Just a Few Changes

I’ve mentioned a few times that Ryder has had no interest in watching TV.  We bought DVD players for the car before our trip to Ocean City, which he really enjoyed.  When we get in the car, he asks for us to turn on his Elmo movie, but he has always just asked for it in the car and never cared about TV at home.  Well the other day, he asked us to turn on a certain show… It’s Blues Clues!!!  He has asked to watch it every day, and has already memorized a lot of the songs.  We have heard him walking around saying “It’s Mail Time!” or “Anything…Dat we wanna do!” or “we just got a letter!”.  I’m glad that out of all the shows on he picked this one, I can deal with that!  And he looks SO cute watching TV:

 

(There’s nothing wrong with a man holding purple & orange…go Rams! haha)

Also, we went to the store this weekend and bought Ryder a new potty.  This one is going to go to Nana’s house so she can start warming him up to the idea of going potty during the day.  He has done so good this weekend telling me when he has to go potty.  He has “peed in da bucket” atleast 3 times a day, and he even went #2 again!  One thing I’m noticing though is that he’s not emptying his bladder all the way.  This must be what his kidney doctor was talking about when he said that potty training would be really difficult for us.  Not that he is making things difficult at all so far, but since his bladder has so much muscle around it, he’s going to be able to hold it for a long time, then have to go really bad, but then just let a little out and not be able to feel that there is more that needs to come.  So, we’re taking baby steps, so far he’s really doing great with the whole concept!  And he’s so proud of himself, as he pees he always says “momma’s SO proud of you!!!”  And he’s right, I am!  On the way home from the store, he insisted on having his potty sit with him in his car seat, I had to get a picture of that:

We had an appointment with Ryder’s Physiatrist last week and have decided to do some things to work really hard with his left side over the next few weeks/months.  First, he will be getting new Orthotics, these will be more like a brace for his foot/ankle called a SMAFO (Supra Malleolar Ankle/Foot Orthosis).  His feet have always been pronated, and when we got his first set of Orthotics we noticed a HUGE change in the way he walked.  Now that he has outgrown them and has become so fast on his feet, he is dragging his left foot when he walks and it’s causing his knee to turn in too.  So hopefully we’ll see a lot of improvement once we get the brace. 

And for his arm, we have an immobilizer that we will be using on his right arm for a few hours each day this week.  It’s going to prevent him from using his right arm and encourage him to start initiating things with Lefty.  Hopefully using the immobilizer this week will prepare him for casting sometime next week.  We’re going to try a round of modified Constraint Therapy with him and see how he does.  He’ll be getting a cast on his right arm and we’re going to increase his therapy sessions and try to get the most out of Lefty that we can, in hopes that his brain will force some pathways to the nerves and muscles in his arm and hand. 

So, just a few changes I thought I’d share :)  Please keep Ryder in your prayers as he has some difficult things to face in the coming weeks.  More than anything, he hates being restrained…and we are about to face a fitting on his feet for orthotics and a casting on his arm where we will all have to hold him down.  Not to mention, taking Righty away is going to be extremely frustrating for him.  We wouldn’t put him through these things if we didn’t know that the benefit was greater than the discomfort, but it’s still hard for a Mommy & Daddy to watch their kid suffer in any way, so pray for us too, if you wouldn’t mind!