A Few Steps Forward, A Few Steps Back

Sunday I went to church alone. Although I wanted my family there, it was nice for me to go. After I got home, Jonathan went to play football and my sister and her husband (Aunt Kendra and Uncle Ryan) came over for a visit. Aaron was happy to see them! They took Ethan to the park where Jonathan was playing football. I was able to cuddle with Aaron and watch some TV.

We did all the necessities: clean the pins, practice walking, turning the screws, etc. I posted some pictures below of Jonathan cleaning the pins and of Aaron walking and climbing the stairs. As you can see by the pictures, Aaron is working VERY hard. Walking is still really painful for him, and he would much rather stay in the wheelchair. It's hard as a mom (and I am sure Jon would say the same thing) to make your son walk when it causes him so much pain. It reminds me that sometimes as parents, we have to make our kid's life unpleasant to accomplish something worthwhile in the end (I'm thinking about disciplining or having them wear braces or something like that).

We went to visit the Johnson's for a bit at the end of the evening. Aaron was really happy to see Mary and to sit with her on the couch to find Waldo. All of us were happy to get out of the house and have some hot cocoa and hot tea with our friends. What a gorgeous evening!

Aaron had his best night of sleep on Sunday night. Both Jonathan and Aaron would say that he had the best night of sleep because Jonathan slept with Aaron. I'm not so sure about that, and we will find out for sure tonight. I think that it might be that Jonathan doesn't wake up when Aaron moves around! I shoot right up and ask if he needs anything! But, perhaps that is why Aaron sleeps so soundly with Jonathan because Daddy isn't so much on edge. Anyway, we all slept pretty well last night. We found a GREAT BIG PUMPKIN on our lawn the morning! What a great gift. I think that it is even heavier than Aaron!

In the AM, Uncle Craig called to say that they had a piece on ABC about limb lengthening. I saw the very end, but I am sure if you saw it you know that limb lengthening is becoming more "popular" and more controversial. A lot of people are now having limb lengthenings for cosmetic reasons - not sure why they would want to do that! And, some dwarfs or little people are using the procedure to lengthen all of their limbs. That must be so tough.

Jonathan stayed home today for the holiday. It was a really nice day so we tried to get up and moving early on. Aaron had another shower, and Jonathan cleaned his pins. They are much easier to clean once he has a shower. We all went out to Griffin Park in the early afternoon for a walk. Ethan just got some Heely's from his Nana and Papa and was anxious to try them out. Aaron enjoyed pushing himself and being pushed. As a friend said today - we kind of had a "normal" day!

We spent about an hour at the park and then came home to rest. Aaron walked like a trooper, and now he is resting. We hope to get a good night's sleep tonight too. Tomorrow Nana will be over to help so that I can lead my bible study. And, then we will take him to the library for a bit.

Uncle Craig also mentioned that I needed to put more pictures on the blog - so I took more today. I will add more when I think of taking pictures (not my area of giftedness, that is for sure).