IN THE CAR!

We are IN THE CAR! And we have been for HOURS. Since 9:15 this morning. It is now 7 at night. We are on the way to Michigan for our family vacation. The trip thusfar has not been too bad - I'm not looking forward to doing it all in reverse in a week, though, as I think it'll be a lot harder to do a 13 or 14 hour drive back into real life. Since we're on our way to peace and relaxation, we're feeling pretty good. And Charlie has been a trooper! He's taken 2 good naps, eaten apples and chicken and bunny grahams, listened to me read books, listened to music, played with some toys, and had only 2 chances to get out of the car seat and stretch in the last 10 hours - and yet he hasn't cried once. We are blessed!

I'd like to pause to give a quick CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin Jen and almost-cousin Byron, who are getting married tomorrow! We are so sad not to be there at what I'm sure will be a beautiful ceremony in the Adirondacks. While we are very excited about seeing one side of our family in Michigan, we're sad that it's at the expense of seeing the other side of the family at the wedding. Hopefully my mom is taking lots of photos!

Speaking of photos, I have none to post - I'm typing this in the car and don't have my camera cable handy to upload any recent shots. But I've got some funny video of Charlie crawling around and am sure we will be taking lots of photos and videos of his first visit to the summer cottage, so we will be posting again soon. In the meantime, I'll share a quick update on his latest therapy appointment, which we had on Wednesday evening after work. Normally we see an occupational therapist, Amanda. She is great, really positive about Charlie's progress while still being realistic about him being somewhat behind. She's noticed lately that Charlie tends to stand on the edges of his feet rather than flat on the soles, so she asked a physical therapist to come with her to this week's appointment. The PT affirmed Amanda's concerns, but got Charlie to do some test poses, and feels pretty sure the foot turning is not from the hip (which would indicate a neurological issue) but instead from the ankle, which most likely indicates a sensory thing. Preemies often have sensory disorders that range from minor (not liking to have things touching them) to major (throwing up when they eat, screaming when in crowds, etc). Charlie doesn't like sitting in the grass, which is another sign that this is a sensory issue. But he must be on the mild side, since he's pretty social and definitely doesn't seem to have eating issues. Anyway, the PT is going to order some orthodic shoes for him to wear to try to cure the ankle roll. While I had frightened visions of Forrest Gump, she ensures me they're just little plastic shoes that will go up to his ankles and force the soles of his feet to meet the ground. The sooner we get him comfortable bearing weight on his soles, the sooner we can start working on walking. So the new shoes are on order! Another recommendation they suggested is to fill a big tupperware container with grains of rice and plop Charlie down in it now and then. I guess he just needs to get used to the feeling of things moving under him.

Other than that, things continue to go well for our little guy. He's crawling all over the place, generally after things I do NOT want him to have, such as the mouse for my computer, the stereo cables, the remote, etc. I've been working on discipline a little but he seems to think it's funny when I tell him NO! in a stern voice. We may be in trouble...