All about Lara

We had therapy this morning. Lara's left leg has been extra tight as of late, which doesn't surprise me because she is going through a growth spurt. But it caused Gretchen to explain some alternatives to loosening up Lara's muscles. First, there's medication, which apparently is supposed to be really effective. I am opposed to that because I hear there are a lot of side effects to these meds, and I do not want to put Lara through that. However, I am open to giving it a shot and see how she responds to it for just a little bit. Speaking of shots, the next alternative is botox injections, which I had really hoped Lara's case would be so mild that it wouldn't be brought up. If in the distant future we go that route, the only muscles that would require that would be her inner thighs. But all of these things need to be discussed with Lara's developmental pediatrician next month, so we'll have to wait and see. For now, I would much rather spend a lot of time stretching her legs than giving her medication. She's just too little.

I asked Gretchen if she feels Lara will need a walker at some point in the near future. She said we shouldn't rule it out, but at this point, Lara is making such good progress with her walking, that we should focus on doing what we can to teach her to walk independently, which will definitely happen. Usually, when it is apparent that a child will not walk for a pretty long time or are in school and need to be upright, they order a walker. Lara is not in either of those categories. Gretchen says the push toys are actually better for little kids at Lara's age, but I can't remember why.

After therapy, Lara and I did a little shopping at the mall. I forgot her stroller though. The last time we didn't take her stroller, we just paid a few dollars for one of the mall's strollers-I thought they were cute; it's a little car with a steering wheel, and I thought Lara would like it. Um, NO. She freaked out when we tried to put her in it. However, today I gave it another try, and she loved it. She had a big smile for it, and liked steering. I found some tennis shoes for Lara while she took all the shoes off the shelf. And we shared a cheesy pretzel which is our tradition.

I am hearing a little bit better these days. I kind of feel that I need to get all my issues taken care of, so I can devote my time better to Lara and HER issues. She doesn't really have any issues, but she does have CP, so she takes a little tiny bit more work than other babies. Not a lot, but some.

So it is almost 1:30 and Lara has not had lunch. She passed out on the way home, and is sleeping soundly in her bed.