Back to the park

A trip to the park needs to be planned ahead of time if you want to obtain optimal parking.  If you arrive after 10AM you're basically out of luck.  We were able to rally the troops and get there just in time.

Spica Cast Update - One Year Later

Dylan has had 3 X-rays since his spica cast was removed -- each one yielding the same results (in layman's terms):  the head of the joint on his left side was starting to develop, but the X-rays showed that the respective socket was not developing around it.  So based on the X-ray alone, it looked as if his left hip was still dislocated... obviously bad news. 

The doctor in Brazil ordered up an MRI (which meant general anesthesia) since the X-rays did not show cartilage development.  There was a chance (according to the doctor) that the cartilage was developing over the ball of the joint but could not be seen on the X-ray since it was not bone yet.  We didn't have our hopes set too high since he also said that he wouldn't be ordering up an MRI if he didn't think there was a good chance there was an issue.  He did note that some doctors would perform surgery based off the X-rays alone.  So in the case when the cartilage is developing the right way, surgery would be performed with good results even though the hip would have developed just fine without the surgery -- the performing surgeon would be a hero in the parents eyes.

We also sent the X-rays back to the doctor who did Dylan's first surgery to get his thoughts -- he said based on the X-rays that surgery was required.  I then told him about the recommended MRI from the doctor here in Brazil, he was surprised they would even order it up -- I think partly due to the cost of the MRI versus the chance that it would yield bad results on his hip.

It didn't take much thought for Cathy and I to decide to go with the MRI.  It seems that everything with Dylan has been in the outlier range -- meaning if there was a small chance of good news (or bad as in the past), by Dylan theory, he would hit it.  So last Friday morning Dylan went under (again, for the 3rd time by age 2) and he did the MRI.  He actually woke up and was his normal wild man self within 3 hours.  Then the doctor sent Cathy a text saying it was good news!  We were very excited to say the least, but wanted to talk with him to make sure -- sure enough, good news!  The cartilage (which cannot be seen on the X-ray) was developing over the ball of his joint on the left side in the same manner that the bone of his right side has already developed.  He said there's a very good chance (cannot ever say 100%) that his left hip would develop just fine!  From this point we have to continue to monitor and make sure it develops as anticipated... it's nice to have some solid data which coincides with the hip development process the doctor discussed with us before the MRI.

Christmas spirit

Typically we hold off until after Thanksgiving -- however since we are headed out of here on the 15th, we decided to set the tree up last weekend to provide equivalent weeks of Christmas experience in our home.  I have to say though, this is the one time I'm not a fan of the warm weather -- didn't really feel the same.  I have come to the conclusion that I like cold weather starting from Thanksgiving and promptly ending the day after Christmas.  We are partially meeting these requirements based on our scheduled arrival date back to the US... after the 25th, it's in mother nature's hands.

Wii Challenge

We were rained out on our recent four day weekend, so on one of the days we decided to bust out the Wii. Maddie and Dylan were able to play boxing together. Dylan went with a well thought out smooth approach -- Maddie took the aggressive route.

A pleasant morning

Both kids woke up in a good mood and ready for breakfast.

Simba Safari

Little D feeding the animals.

Not much action in this area.

We took a trip to a nearby zoo with a drive-thru safari, it was a nice setup.  Dylan really enjoyed feeding the animals -- Maddie on the other hand, was a bit intimidated by the close proximity to the animals... so I chose to hand feed the steak to the tigers which helped alleviate her fear.

Lazy day

After a late Friday night on the town to celebrate Cathy's birthday we had a very relaxed (lazy) Saturday... half of the house was full of energy.

Time for some math

I just started teaching Maddie some basic math the past couple weeks, she did this page all by herself.  Today was the first time I could tell she was beginning to understand the concept, prior to this Maddie was memorizing the combinations without thinking it through.  I can tell that if I keep up with these activities a few times a week that Maddie will pick it up pretty fast -- the toughest part for her right now is writing the numbers down after each equation... of course my handwriting in my older age isn't much better than hers today.