Scottish Rite, Bachan, etc.

On Tuesday, we went to Scottish Rite for our yearly evaluation.  Here is an excerpt from our post about our visit last year, and what our diagnosis was when we left:

"He has Thumb Hypoplasia. On the Blauth Classification, his right thumb is a 3A, and his left thumb is a 2. They are also concerned about the length of his radius and some possible missing cartilage under his thumb area." 

Things have not changed much.  At this point, the doctor believes that we may only need to operate on the right thumb, and the left thumb may work just fine as-is.  And again, they want to wait until next year when he is a little older.

At this point, since it does not seem to be a question of if we are doing the surgery, but only of when, we are seeking out a second opinion.  I think it will be much easier to do this surgery to a 2 year old than a 4 year old.

We did find out some more information on what the surgery entails.  They will lengthen the space between his thumb and forefinger, as well as stretch some of the tendons to give him more control.  They will also split the short muscle from his ring finger, and bring it over to his thumb to give him a stronger pincer grip.  He will wear a cast for about 6 weeks after the procedure, and there will be some pins involved to strengthen the thumb.

The good news is that his forearms have grown perfectly, and there will be no need to lengthen them. Whew.

Daddy is flying to Minneapolis on Sunday morning early to accept at least 2 awards -- we're hoping it will be three, but we won't find that out until Friday.

Bachan is flying in on Sunday midmorning.  So, we will be doing lots of to and from the airport on Sunday...maybe we'll hit a splashpark in between. :)

Bachan is going to hang out with KP and me until Wednesday, when I fly up to Minneapolis to **hopefully** watch Dylan receive his third award. :)

We will both come back on Saturday afternoon, so Bachan, KP and Goose will be hanging out Wednesday-Saturday.  I hope the house is still standing when we get back. :)

Needless to say, we are all running around like crazy people trying to get ready for the busy week ahead.

Cross your fingers for Dylan and we'll see you next week. :)  Hopefully Bachan will update the blog while she's here.  That's why I did crazy updates tonight - just so things would stay in chronological order. :)

xoxo
Margot

Pool time!!

Last weekend we got to go play with Mimi and Grandpa Mike at the pool.  We remembered the sunscreen and earplugs for KP, but forgot it for us (or maybe were hoping for a tan) -- notice the progression of red. :) KP even went underwater a few times and seemed to love every minute of it.
















































It's hard to tell who had the best time.  I think we all did. :)

July 4th Weekend

Everyone was off of work for the July 3rd and 4th, so we took advantage of having all of us at home for such a long time.

On Friday, July 3, we went to the Zoo. :)  We tried the monorail for the first time -- I don't think we'll be doing that again.  Too bad it doesn't look more like a train -- KP loves trains, but he was NOT digging the monorail.


KP with his new shades :)


Even the lemurs were hot -- and it was 9 am!!





The penguins were the coolest!!  We have great videos of them swooping underwater.  We were lucky enough to be there at feeding time.  We would go back to the zoo just for the penguins -- I just wish their exhibit were a bit larger (also because they have misters :) )


Amazingly enough, this is not a zebra -- no stripes on the belly.


I SO want this waterfall!!


This is where the pelicans tried to eat us.


This is what pelicans look like when they are saying "who? us?"





This is KP trying to match his face to his shirt on the monorail.


Meerkats!!! (Just for Daddy)


Don't ask.  I have no idea.


This is the cutest little guy.  Because he is so cute, I bet he would eat a small child if given the chance.



Mimi was nice enough to watch KP on the 4th.  They went out to Mario and Ashley's for a cookout, and reported back that they had a great time. :)

Since we were kiddo free, Mommy and Daddy got to go visit some friends up in the middle of nowhere and set off fireworks. :)

On Sunday, July 5, we went to Grandad Lynn and Grandma Sheri's.  We were too busy eating to take too many pictures, but it was nice to hang out with the family.

KP found the stash of whole wheat cheerios and dug in with Grandma. :)



When KP woke up from his nap, you'll never guess where he wanted to go....



























We had a great weekend!  Friends and family, what more can you ask for?

xoxo
Margot

Welcome, July :)

KP discovered a new place to "hang out".  And, of course, instead of scolding him or putting him in time-out, Daddy took pictures.



He is also getting wayyy more talented on his slide.  This is a picture of him walking up the slide backwards.



xoxo
Margot

June comes to an end...

One of KP's favorite activities in the morning is skyping with Bachan and Jichan.



Whenever I am at the computer in the morning, he climbs up in the chair with me and points at the Skype icon and says "chan -- chan". :)  Sometimes we can get them, and sometimes we can't.

This picture was taken because KP wanted to show off his "cheese", otherwise known as Mommy's camera. :)

We also went to the spraygrounds -- again.  I think that 2009 will be remembered for us as the year of the sprayground.  It has become a regular stop for us -- so much so that we keep swim trunks in the car just in case we have a little bit of time to kill.



















































xoxo
Margot