A month of "normal"

I've had a few people ask for the latest news on M's feet, but the reason I haven't posted in a while is because there is no news! It's been a month since our last visit to the ortho, the visit at which she took of his casts and prescribed some stretching. We don't go back again until next week, so there hasn't been much else to report. I don't know what she will say next week, if we have made enough progress with the stretching to move on to a brace (presumably with severing the Achilles first, which I think would require casting after?), if x-Ray will show his hips to be truly healed, if the way he still hyper-extends his right leg will be deemed a problem, etc.

But since we can't do anything about that (except keep stretching those feet), we've been able to spend a month being "normal". Not that our lives with the harness and casts were terribly abnormal, but the weekly trips to th hospital, sponge baths instead of real ones, not being able to go in the pool, etc., we're certainly a bit limiting.

We got lucky with the timing--the casts came off about a week before we left on vacation, so we didn't have to deal with them when travelling. We had a hectic but fun visit to Michigan, including a family reunion with my dad and all his brothers, plus a few cousins. E stayed an extra five days in Michigan with my mom, where he went to camp at the John Ball Zoo--he loved it and wants to do it again next year. M got to be an only child for those days, which I think he also enjoyed (although he also adores his big brother and was visibly excited to see him again when he came home).

Last week we had play dates and trips to the park and splash pad and picnics and all that good summer stuff--because it was, for E, the last week of summer. Tomorrow he starts JK (Junior Kindergarten, for those outside Ontario--kids here do a two year kindergarten program that is play-based, starting the year they turn four). Hopefully if time permits I will make it back here to do a first day of school post, maybe even with a recipe for the mini muffins I made tonight for the lunchbox!