We had an appointment at Cranial Tech last Wednesday and we discussed 'what's next' for you. I'm happy to say that our next appointment on the 21st of this month will be our exit appointment!! We'll take the 'after' pictures, and you'll have one more adjustment, and then you'll wear it for 2 more weeks. Then, on October 5th, we'll take it off and it'll never be on your little head again!!! I talked with your clinician a lot about her thoughts about you possibly needing a second one. What it came down to was, there is still one side of your forehead that slopes a little, but its not severe enough to notice. Also, she told us honestly, that if the first helmet didn't fully correct it, then the chances of a second one doing the job (especially at your age) was kind of unlikely. Everything else has corrected just how we wanted it to. I'd be a little discouraged right now if it wasn't for your physical therapist. She's very confident that she can correct it, and she's made huge changes already. She thinks you could be done with the band right now, but we're going to finish out the treatment anyway.
It's weird to think of not going to Pasadena anymore. And believe it or not, I'm gonna miss that place and the people- just a little. They've been great to work with, and you always have fun with them. I was thinking back last night as I cleaned the band while dad was bathing you. I remembered the first time I ever cleaned it. I went through a paper they'd given me of 10 steps and directions on caring for you and the band, cleaning, adjusting, what to do, what not to do, etc. I was overwhelmed and I cried a little. I remember thinking- I'm going to have to read this paper every night for the next 4 months! And now I could do it all in my sleep.
You've handled it all so well, and I'm so very proud of you.
And now about physical therapy. At your last appointment your therapist said to you, "Garrett, you're getting better so quickly that I'm not going to get to see you much longer!" That also made me happy and sad. She's been the best we've worked with. (And we've worked with 6 over the past 11 months.) She told me that she thinks you'll be done probably early November. I did a little figuring and since you were born until today you've had between 95 and 100 appointments, with maybe 15-20 more to go. I said to dad last week after your CT appointment, "What am I going to do with all my free time when this is all done?!" And he immediately said, "Have another baby." It is pretty amazing timing that we'll finish up your treatments right around the time that your sister is due.
It's been a chapter of ups and downs for sure, and while it could have been much worse, I think I'll be happy to see it come to an end.
Here are a couple things you've learned this month.
-Drinking through a straw. A waiter brought you a child's cup with a clear straw and I held it in front of you to play with and you actually drank from it! We're not at the point were I'd give you a cup and straw unsupervised, but you've definitely figured it out.
-You clap a lot now. You've done it a bit in the past, but now you're kind of getting it and doing it on queue.
-You touch your head more now when you eat. Which for us means, cleaning a helmet, not washing hair. I'm glad you haven't done this much...it's no fun washing blueberries out of that hard foam stuff at the edge of your helmet.
-Speaking of eating. You think the normal thing to do when you're done, is drop whatever you didn't eat on the floor. Even when I give you a stern 'No' you still think its really funny. It's not funny.
-You're in a really great routine still, (even considering all the appointments every week). You sleep 11-12 hours a night, take a 2 hour nap, then a 1 hour nap. We're trying to be really good about meal time and less bottles. More sippy cups with water, more real food, and less bottles when we think you 'might' be hungry. We're introducing whole milk in the next few days and we want that to go as smooth as possible.
-As far as walking. You've stood on your own quite a few times. You have really good balance and really strong legs. Dad and I sit on the floor across from each other and encourage you to walk back and forth. There have definitely been a lot of steps all of your own but not near enough to say you're walking. It's more like diving back and forth with a couple bounces from foot to foot in between. But I think you're close, maybe too close. It's fun seeing you learn, but I have a feeling I'll miss the crawling baby phase when you're suddenly walking every where.
-You love remotes, phones, computers, anything that you shouldn't play with, you love. You set the DVR to record a show a couple weeks ago. You changed the font on dads cell phone, and you set the alarm clock on my cell phone. I found an old phone and gave it to you. I told you its your very own and you can do what ever you want with it. You liked it for about 5 seconds and you haven't touched it since. It's like you know it doesn't work or something and you only want the real thing.
-And the last thing I can think of. Yesterday I saw a tooth! Well, the very start of a tooth, but I can see tooth! I bet I've said a thousand times in the past 6 months, "I think he might be teething." And now, finally, 10 days before your first birthday, I see the start of one tiny little tooth. Someone told your Grandma White that babies either get a lot of hair fast or a lot of teeth fast. I don't know if its true but the theory works for you. You're really in need of your 5th haircut right about now.
I guess I won't have much to say now on your 12 month check point post. But we go to the doc for your 1 year well check a couple days after your birthday. So I'll post stats from that and anything else I can think of then. I can't believe you're 10 days away from being a one year old!
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