sorry for the silence!

We're on vacation! :) Computer time is limited, and somewhat avoided. :)

We made it to Clovis. Ryan came early to get started on his Mentored Ministry class (seminary version of internship, kinda), working with our good friend Bailey. He spends a couple days a week on that class, and the rest of his time helping baby brother Layne remodel his house in Lubbock.
The kids and I (accompanied by our precious, pacient friend Kelly) followed him here about 2 weeks later. The road trip was amazing - even though we spent 16 hours on the road one day, and the kids only slept for less than 2 of them. Gulp. And so far the vacation is great. The kids love all the adoring audiences of our friends and family here, and I love a break from being the primary audience. They get fresh enthusiasm and I regain some sanity. :)
We're here for about another week, then Grammy is driving back to Kentucky with us and staying for a few days. Ryan will stay and finish up his class and work, following us home a few days later.

If I don't manage it before, I'll blog when we get back to Wilmore.

braces

There they are. Custom-fit ankle supports. As you can see, they just slip into his shoes, and they really seem to work. They keep his ankles positioned correctly so that he will build the right muscles to strengthen them. They keep him from some of the bad habits he was developing before, like gripping with his toes to compensate for his weak ankels.

He seems to like them. I think he likes the added stability. They don't keep him from any of the things he can already do, like scooting or standing up.

So far so good! I'm excited to see how this helps him get stronger.

fun moment

My kids side by side in the kithen gleefully watching fireworks out our back door. Too cute.

CRAWL!!

Athan crawled! :) Not far. And not often! But for the first time ever, he was up on all 4s, and then made a bit of forward progress by moving his right hand and left knee, then left hand and right knee... Then he got tired and returned to scooting. Yeah!

As far as mobility, I will be fine if Athan skips the crawling as a whole "stage" and goes straight from scooting to walking. But as far as his cognitive development, muscle strength, and general skill level, it would be great if he would go ahead and learn to crawl. It is helping him develop his arm, shoulder, and neck strength already.

His crawling attempts are brief and rare, but I'll see what I can do about a video soon...