Our Journey to Carson

Soccer Balls, Bicycles, and Dancing Feet...

As we anxiously awaited the start of Carson's first soccer season, I got an unfortunate bit of news...the local soccer organization he would be playing for will not let him wear his AFO splints during games. What?! He needs those things for gait correction (he's not quite as pigeon-toed when he has them on) and will surely trip himself and others without them!!

The coach's wife who informed me of this rule also told me about an indoor soccer clinic offered for little kids...they get classes on how to play soccer, then scrimmage at the end of the class. There are no strict rules and the AFOs will be allowed. I checked into the program and decided this will be better for Carson right now. Besides, it's indoors (no sitting out in the rain and muck) and always at the same time and location (no seeking out obscure soccer fields), with no need to purchase expensive shoes, uniforms, or team pictures. Sounds good to me!! He's attending a "free trial" class on Tuesday, then his classes start March 11th and go for 12 weeks. I'll (of course) post pictures! We'll get him back into the local sports organization once he's out of the AFOs.

On another note, physical therapy for Carson is becoming a pain for Mommy. His therapist, Miss Courtney, probably means well but comes across as a snooty know-it-all and has offended me multiple times...even asking me once, with all the sarcasm you can imagine, "Do you ever HUG your son?" (Her intention with the question was that hugging will require him to bend his arms. Duh! We KNOW that, but he still can't bend his arms...our hugs from him are quite straight-armed.)

I requested to decrease his PT to once every other week as his PT and OT schedules -- when added to my work and school schedules -- are becoming overwhelming. With the reduction in PT visits, I requested she give us goals to meet during the weeks off. We have shown Miss Courtney over the time we've been seeing her that we are VERY compliant and successful with home goals. She agreed to reduce his schedule, but wrote up a report that I was compromising his care by decreasing his PT...even after we had just gone through his long-term goals and proved he has met half off them already!...and made me read the report right there in front of her! This girl is trying my patience...uggghhhh!!!

Carson's favorite part of PT is the bicycle part. They put him on a bike and he gets to ride all over the building...people always notice him and he feels like something of a celebrity, I think. He looks so funny when he's on the bike because they make him wear a hair cover under his helmet to keep the helmet clean...he ends up looking like an elderly woman protecting her hair from the rain.

In this first picture, he's actually riding something called a "plasma car." He doesn't use his feet at all, but rotating the steering wheel back and forth propels this thing forward. With his arm issues, he really shouldn't be able to get it moving. Miss Courtney held his shoulders still, to force him to use his arms instead of his back and shoulders, and he WAS able to get it moving...and traveled across the room and back. Miss Courtney was speechless!
Here he is on the regular bike. Carson's legs are quite weak (hard to believe if you've ever seen him run!) but he gets better on this thing every week. I can't wait for springtime so we can get him outside on his OWN bike!
Lastly in this post, Meggie had her first dance competition of the year yesterday. Daddy had to work (of course!), so Carson was forced to stay with Mommy through the entirety of the day. Meggie had to be there at 9:30 a.m. and that's when our L-O-N-G day began.

Carson, will you be a good boy for Mommy today??
I'll take that as a yes! Mommy came prepared, with a bag of toys, a lunch box full of snacks, and...best of all...Carson's "hot date" Sarah! He is completely in love with Meggie's friend Sarah and I'm confident she helped me get through this day with him. Here they are goofing together...
...and here he is with Meggie. He kept asking throughout the day where Meggie was, but I don't think he understood that she was up on stage dancing. We kept telling him, but he would say, "Oh!" and go back to his toys.
This competition had a Mardi Gras theme, so every time the judges needed a break, they would play a particular song and throw beads out into the crowd. The first time they did the bead throw, Carson just sat with me. His "hot date" (as he called Sarah) asked a young boy who had more than enough strands if Carson could have one -- the boy obliged. Here, Sarah is wearing the beads, trying to negotiate with Carson to keep them.
He wasn't going for it! He took them back and they actually kept him busy for quite a while! The second time they had a bead throwing, I told him to go down in front of the auditorium and try to get some beads. He ran down and was quite successful! (Caught some and was offered some by sympathetic older girls who felt sorry for him being so tiny and getting lost in the crowd.) Here he is with the beads he got on his own:
Pretty impressive, huh?! After we had lunch with Meggie, Carson started getting mean...even to Sarah. I told him he had to sit on my lap and take a nap. I totally didn't expect him to sleep, but I figured he could chill out for a bit and maybe regain his good attitude. He said he wanted to watch the girls dance, so I put him on my lap facing forward...and he FELL ASLEEP!!! I was shocked!!
He ended up sleeping about an hour! This was amazing because the room was CRAZY loud, with music blaring and people screaming and clapping after every performance. What a good boy I have!!

This picture is just bizarre. There was a man sitting behind us that Carson really took a liking to...Meggie said his daughter dances with her studio but she doesn't know her. The guy was friendly and kept making silly faces with Carson. Well, Carson decided he wanted a closer relationship with this complete stranger...
...and ended up sharing his lap with his daughter for about 30 minutes! It was making me quite uncomfortable, but the guy kept assuring me he has four kids and it was fine. I finally had to make Carson sit by me again. He was hugging this guy, leaning his head on his shoulder...it was kinda disturbing that he was so comfortable with a complete stranger!! Definitely gotta watch Carson in crowds, 'cause he would be very easy to abduct with his complete lack of stranger anxiety!!

Here's a pic of Carson and his gals at the end of a long day...this picture was taken around 8PM!! (Remember, our day started at 9:30AM!)
Carson insisted on carrying our lunch box whenever we moved about the competition. Here he is, wearing the lunch box over his shoulder, and waiting to scare Meggie as she came around the corner.
We finally ended up getting dinner around 9PM. Carson was in an extremely goofy mood at dinner, but we could hardly complain considering how well he behaved all day. A few pictures of the slap-happy kids...
Even though Carson loves goofing off with Meggie and Sarah...and while Meggie is choking him in most pictures I took, he loves it and comes back for more...this is my favorite pic from dinner:
Yes, my Little Man loves his Mommy!! No matter what kind of day I'm having, those kisses make it all worthwhile!!!!