Thursday, June 2, 2011

physical therapy, t-ball, and ladders.

Since last summer we have continuously been wondering how to get Natalie in some sort of activity to help keep her active. And then of course, there's super high active James who needed something, too.. but we couldn't chose one thing. It had to be one thing well, because of money number one..but also because of time. Several months ago we had talked about getting James active with karate but then he immediately started showing how interested he was in sports. He really likes all types of sports but hasn't yet favored any one of them. And that's okay. We jumped at the chance to sign him up for a T-ball pee-wee league when one of our favorite families invited us. The dad of one of James' preschool buddies is the coach and their son will be on the team, too. Thankfully their mom told me about it and how could we say no? It'll be perfect! Today we signed him up and we're now ready to start this out at the end of the month. He got a chance to tour the fields and is really happy. He did comment on the playground by the fields saying "that playground is just.. nothing". Yes, it's tiny. SIGH. ; )

Then there's Natalie.
She has been begging for ballet classes but the class we did find was ages 5-6 only. That was until we checked out the same exact rec center that James will be visiting and we ended up lucking out and signing her up for a "creative dance" class. It'll be for 8 weeks and this way she'll be able to try out several types of dance, not just ballet.
The rec center is located at a very old school building very close to our area.. maybe a few miles.. and it's really neat to look at in the inside. While we waited for the registration, the kids got a chance to pick out two pieces of pottery- free, courtesy of the staff there. How sweet was that?
Before we left registration I let Natalie show me her skills..


We feel so lucky to have had a few bucks put aside to do this finally. It's well worth the money and so well worth it on every level.
In addition to the socializing, teamwork, and exercising they'll get to be involved in, Natalie will be able to strengthen some of her muscles that need more developing.
Today we had a physical therapy appointment for her. To be honest, I was really surprised they called me after Natalie's early-May check-up from the pediatrician because we had been waiting so long for SPEECH therapy for James that I was thrown for a loop. But, hey if a doctor thinks that Natalie still needed some help, we'll listen and we'll take it.
Last May Natalie ended her physical therapy because she was progressing at the right speed with her "in-toeing" and with her leg mobility. At that time she had weakness in her upper/outer thighs but with the exercises we were doing, she was "getting there". But then at this past appointment that "in-toeing" was still there. But here is what is the outcome for today's visit..
Natalie doesn't fall, trip, or really anything for that matter when it comes to her "in-toeing". It doesn't affect her really at all, except it's proof of the weakness that she still has in her outer quadricep area. This is why she does so well going up the stairs, even taking one foot each for each step, but then comes down the steps with her feet toeing inward. She's learned for so long to over-compensate the weakness in her outer quads that really the only way to fix it is repetition and keep her moving and learning to use those muscles. So today we learned tons of new exercises and activities and we'll check back with the pediatrician in about 4 months to see if she needs another PT referral. Her strength is fantastic. Her energy.. wow.. her energy.. is beyond what was expected for a kid with half of a heart. The PT expected a lot less energy and got a highly energetic Natalie who is tough as nails. She's not very much behind with physical ability because she's catching up and that's been constant. You figure, she didn't walk until she was about 22 months old.. so that's a ways to go... and she's doing it.

So, needless to say Natalie doesn't need continued physical therapy right now. Just her parents helping her out with new way to move her legs and getting her comfortable... such as going up ladders (she really won't do it.. fear and lack of leg strength) and getting her to jump with legs straight off of small steps, and things like that.
Now that it's summer (well, a very warm spring) I do not see this being a problem. ; )

1 comment:

cartes said...

Im so glad that you were able to afford to get the kids into activities they both like! I know sports really helped me focus in school...I knew if I was doing well in school I got to go play soccer or softball or whatever it was that year lol...