What was that about "slow and steady?" Makes you crazy?

For awhile, we just waited. By now, we were getting pretty good at waiting, so we did that. Texas was warm, and we didn't think much about what we would dress our daugter in. We spent a lot of time in the room, and I figured out a weird wrapping technique with a sleeve-tucking trick for the times we were desperate enough to go out. But, what do you dress a cold-weather kid in after the triangle tilt, or some other procedure that leaves them in a splint you can't remove? First, we got some fleece and cut a hole in it for her head and her mobile arm. That worked just fine for around the house, or even as a substitute for a coat, but wasn't very practical in the whole scheme of things. My sister-in-law came up with the idea we eventually expanded on.

We went to Goodwill and bought sweatshirts, and cut the seam from the waist to underneath the wrist. Then, I stitched on ribbon to tie around the brace in three places on each side of the cut seam . I AM NOT CRAFTY. I find crafts and sewing, etc to be VERY tedious. This was easy and functional but only works for sweatshirt-type material. My friend Leah, who is much better at this kind of stuff, made beautiful clothes for her daughter post Triangle Tilt.

For the first three weeks after surgery, recovery is slow and can be a little painful for everyone. My husband and I were afraid at first to remove any part of the SARO brace because we didn't want to screw it up. Of course, you suck it up and do it anyway, because you don't want your kid to get moldy, now, do you? For the first week we let her Occupational Therapist keep it clean, but I knew I had to be able to do it. So, I did. And it wasn't so bad. If you only move one strap at a time, there is virtually no way you can do it wrong. I told my husband that I didn't like being responsible for the placement of her arm when putting it back in, and he laughed at my paranoia. I don't think khe ever did it himeself after that, either, though. I know that the way it looks after the Triangle Tilt is going to determine if we are done doing surgery. Silly, I know, that I can feel so responsible for it, but still I do. I always do. I always will. I just try to focus on what has to be done about it now. And now is the time be brave and do what I have to do for my daughter. So, I bathed the arm with the rest of her in sponge baths, and used that stupid no-rinse shampoo I hate and that takes the curl out of her hair.

I watched her continue to grow and learn. You would not believe the things this kid says! She is so smart, and her language just EXPLODED when she was recovering in her splint. It was like, all of sudden, with these physical limitations, she had time to talk. She went from two word sentences to conversations. She is amazing. Clearly brilliant. Inspiring. Probably the next Barack Obama. I'm sure she is on her way to starting a revolution. She has ideas, people.