Summer Fun!

The past couple weeks we've been enjoying summer fun with our cousins, at the zoo and at grandma and grandpa's. Lyla had a great time playing in the pool with Aaron while Tiffany, Corey and I chilled out on the deck. I passed on my new pesto knowledge and then we had dinner together. Lyla wasn't used to eating at the table and having to stay there while we finished, but she sat it out. She and Aaron did puzzles while we cleaned up and got ready to go outside. Lyla came home in a tank top of Tiffany's after all her clothes were totally soaked.

Last weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's  we did a family project sorting a giant jar of buttons by color, size and style. Lyla thought it was fun at first, but soon retreated into the TV room with grandma. We had a good lunch at Arby's and then took a trip to Ryan and Emily's to meet their new cat Sylvie. She's very cute and even came out to see Lyla. Sylvie is starting to get time with their other cat Piccolo now and things seem to be going well so far.

After we got home, Lyla, Masud and I went for dinner and to the zoo. Lyla wanted to be outside so we did the bears and the tigers. She thought it was very cool to be a tiger researcher and sat at her computer drinking coffee and typing for a long time. We didn't see any tigers.

We had a PM&R visit with Sarah last week at the newly remodeled Gillette Minnestonka clinic. We were greeted by friends Diane (from family council) and Tiffany (a nurse from rehab) and had a good time doing cartwheels in the halls. Lyla had a hip xray that showed her left hip ball is pulling out of the socket. They like to see it at less than 20% and Lyla is at about 25%. Sarah wasn't too concerned but showed me some new stretches and said we should repeat the xray in 6 months.

Her braces are fitting much better since we got them remolded, but they're still not holding her in fully. she has decent range in her heel cords, but Sarah said we need to be diligent about stretching so she maintains it. Casting might be in Lyla's future for her legs and arms; her legs to stretch her heel cord and her righty arm to force her to use lefty. I talked with OT about it and they said maybe they would do her arm over the winter if Lyla keeps making great progress with her righty skills.

Lyla will have a custom seating evaluation on Aug 1 where we will talk about her options for a custom wheelchair. While she is walking better than ever, her stamina is still lacking and she is starting to outgrow the stroller. A chair would allow her some independence and a place to ride when she is tired. i'm not convinced she needs one, but we'll see what they have to say.

Sarah's other suggestion was that Lyla take a break from therapy this fall. She will be off from Sept-Nov just to get away from the gym and have a chance to learn and grow in other ways. She will be in school, but we also signed up for Prior Lake Soccer Club's "Little Lakers". I'm nervous about it and already had a little back and forth with the club about her disabilities, but I'm excited too. It will be great to see her out there having fun with kids her age. She anticipates that she will be "the BEST" at soccer and that she'll have fun kicking the ball in the net.