Double win

Successfully found some shoes to tide us over until the real ones arrive on Wednesday:



That's right. They're Disney Princess, rainbow, Velcro shoes. AND you can't tell from the picture but they light up! So Addy's a happy camper. They're the right size, Velcro shoes that were on sale 50% off, so Mommy's a happy camper, too!

New AFOs

We went and picked up Addy's new AFOs this afternoon. I had picked another butterfly pattern for this pair, but it's a blue background instead of purple this time. They're cute, but I'm not really loving it. The important part is the braces and, let's face it, the pattern is completely irrelevant to the purpose and function of the braces.



New braces, new size, need new shoes! But we had to order the new shoes and they won't be here until Wednesday, which means either finding some el-cheap-o shoes that will get us through the next 5 days or giving the old pair one more try just to make really sure they don't fit.

A little creativity goes a long way

This morning Addy took a crayon and stuffed it in as the axle for a plastic wheel that came off a toy truck. She proceeded to call it "bubbles" and pretended to use it as a bubble wand.

These are just 2 of my favorite things

A couple of Addy's favorites:

Apples, Pears, & Parsnips (a.k.a., "armpits")
1 apple, peeled and diced
1 pear, peeled and diced
2 medium parsnips, also peeled and diced

Option 1: In a small sauce pan, simmer the diced food in about 1 cup of apple or white grape juice until the parsnips are tender (they'll take the longest). Drain the food, reserving the liquid. Measure the cooking liquid and add enough to get back to 1 cup and bring back to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of Minute Tapioca (not tapioca pudding mix!) and cook for about 20 minutes, until all the white bits have turned clear and the mixture is thick. Mill/grind/chop the apples, pears, and parsnips to an appropriate size and stir in the cooked tapioca. Refrigerate or freeze until set.

Option 2: Steam the diced food until tender. Mill/grind/chop to an appropriate size, or leave in diced form if your kiddo is old enough. Addy especially likes this version with a little brown sugar stirred in.


Cheese (with shredded chicken and green beans)
about 1/4 cup shredded chicken
about 1/4 cup soft-cooked green beans
about 2 tablespoons milk
about 4 tablespoons shredded cheese

Put the milk and cheese in a microwave safe ramekin and heat on low power to slowly melt the cheese, stirring frequently. Make sure the chicken and green beans are an appropriate size/texture and add to the cheese sauce. Serve on toast or crackers (or both). Note: the chicken and green beans will freeze just fine, but I don't recommend freezing the cheese sauce.

Socks and other things that belong on your feet

We are dealing with our first pressure sore on poor Addy's foot this week. I know exactly what it's from: I had gotten new socks that were both a little bit big (hoping the bigger size would gain us some length to cover where her AFOs come to) and also not seamless (because I wasn't thinking about it). The seam bunched up on one foot under her pinky toe and caused a very minor pressure ulcer.

The sore is healing really quickly, which is the great news. The annoying news is that, while I learned my lesson, avoiding a repeat performance is proving difficult. The orthotist's office had ordered specialty seamless AFO socks when we ordered the new braces and they were kind enough to let us pick up the socks before the new braces were ready. Unfortunately, even the smallest sized socks are TOO BIG right now, which kind of defeats the purpose of getting special socks. (Even though they're seamless, the fact that they could bunch up inside the brace means they're still able to create pressure points.) Why such dainty feet on Miss Sunshine?

On a related note, the new AFOs arrived this afternoon and we'll get to pick them up in a week--yay!

And after ten comes ...

Addy's nanny was helping her count this afternoon:

Nanny: One.
Addy: One.
Nanny: Two.
Addy: Two.
...
Nanny: Nine.
Addy: Nine.
Nanny: Ten.
Addy: Ten.
Nanny: Yay! Good job! We got to ten!
Addy: Eleven.
Nanny: Yes, eleven comes next!
Addy: Twelve.

Happy Father's Day

Truckin' along

Addy has only been to treadmill therapy twice so far, but she's already doing better with things like pulling up, standing, and pushing her Dino truck along!

Chicken: it's what's for dinner

Addy has officially declared herself a toddler and not a baby. As such, she fancies herself too big to eat baby food any more, which is apparently just the motivation she needed to eat big girl bites of chicken for dinner tonight (about half a chicken tender's worth of bites). The first bite took a little convincing, but with a goldfish cracker and some applesauce for reassurance it was all smooth sailing. The two cutest things she said at dinner tonight were "Chicken. Yummy." and "Chicken, eight, nine, ten."

Earlier today she had another big accomplishment and pulled herself up to standing from sitting on the floor. All by herself! (Because, after all, she's a toddler now and doesn't need help like a baby any more.) She also got SO mad about standing because what she really wanted to be doing was climbing and the couch is just a little too tall for her to climb up on yet.

Big Girl Steps

Addy had her second session of treadmill therapy this afternoon. She did great, just like last time! Most of the time the therapist needed to help guide her feet through the stepping motion, but for a few steps she was able to get her foot in front of her and almost kept up with the treadmill. Yay for Addy!

Climbin' Higher

Just to add a new challenge to the Olympic sport of "Sofa Scaling," Addy's PT suggested that we have her climb from the floor straight up to the sofa frame. It's supposed to encourage her to pull herself up to standing as well as build up her arm and leg muscles. The tricky part is convincing her to climb down again (she likes the climbing up, but really just wants to sit and play once she's at the top!)