5/2/13

Emerging from Hibernation.


Spring has arrived in all it's muddy, sunny shining splendor.   Finally, after a ridiculously long winter that had worn out it's welcome more than an extended visit from an overly opinionated mother in law.  We weren't sure we would survive with sanity intact. 


Today was the first day, since coming home nearly three months ago, that Elijah was able to play outside.  Three long months of basically being cooped up indoors.  There really was no way for him to go out and actually play while there was still snow on the ground.  His primary way to get around while  he plays is his bunny hop crawl.  Plant his right hand, then scoot his knees and repeat. That or walking with his fore arm crutch.  He could do neither in the snow...which wasn't much fun. 

Today our back lawn was mostly free from snow and dry enough to play on.  
After this long winter no one seemed to mind that it's still brown.
The kids found the sand box toys, and lawn chairs in the shed and spent the entire afternoon outside.  I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing.  


Elijah was so very happy to be out playing with the rocks.  
He's just such a typical little boy in every way.


This is his cheesy phony grin. 


I'll take what I can get these days though.  We're trying to get Elijah used to wearing his new torture racks AFO's (leg braces).   Today we were up to wearing them three times for a couple hours each time.  It takes a lot of stretching, bending, and discomfort just to get his foot into them properly.  He despises them...and I'm pretty sure he despises me when I pull them out.  There are still some issues with rubbing and bruising but we discovered this week, after going in to try to get them adjusted again, that his foot just wan't in it properly.  His heels were popping up and then getting pinched in the hinge.  Now that we know how forceful we have to be, his poor little heels are no longer getting pinched...just rubbed. Beyond the rubbing, he's being forced to use muscles that are not accustomed to being used, and lengthening tendons that don't like to be stretched.  So we've had more than our usual share of tears this week. I'm reminding myself that, although we'd all be happier if he was wearing slippers all day,  that's not what's good for him.  My love for him means I care more about his health, progress, and growth than I do about his immediate comfort.  My love for him means allowing him to experience some pain, bringing things into his life that press, and mould, and stretch him, at the same time assuring him that I'm right there with him.  


I'm glad that God loves me enough to care more about my growth, progress, and maturity than he does about my comfort....although I don't typically appreciate the stretching at the time.   I admit this past few months have stretched, pulled, and rubbed in ways that have been  uncomfortable.  



Silas is such a good "big" brother.  He was encouraging Elijah to stand up and start walking to mommy.   Elijah was protesting.  It's easier just to sit or crawl.


Although once he gets going his enthusiasm kicks in and he's eager to show off. 




His balance has improved so much in just the few days that he's been wearing his new hinged AFO's.   It's remarkable.  


He still falls a lot.  Walking is hard work.



This winter we had a crazy amount of snow.   Now that the weather has warmed up, all that snow has to go somewhere. 


It's called run-off.




Creeks spring up in places that are usually dry.  Water fills ditches, flows over roads, runs into basements, and tempts little boys. 

A couple days ago I was giving my boys a lecture about the dangers of the fast moving run-off water. I told them that they are not allowed down to the creek without supervision.
Silas replied, with a confused and incredulous look on his face 
"But how can I get Super Vision?  You don't even have Super Vision.  You only know when I do bad things because of the sound effects"

So there you have it.  Water safety 101...do not play in or near flood water unless you have either x-ray vision or super-vision....because you're going to need to see mom coming for you in time to run and hide. 








1 comment:

Gigi Montgomery said...

Love the thumbs up. Glad things are starting to warm up around there.