Aaron's projects

I was going to use this post to share only of some stuff that Aaron's been doing lately. But I have a few housekeeping issues.

First, Andrew did very well on his swallow study today. He handled the whole thing really well which is saying alot. Even a year ago he would have been screaming bloody murder. He has been passed for eating and drinking orally. The issues he has are all oral motor, his tongue just isn't cooperative.

We also had an Orthopedics appointment last week and his hips look great. Dr. Dietz said the left hip is solid and he is not worried about it ever becoming dislocated again. The right hip is pretty close, he's hoping the next time we go for x-rays it will be at 100%. This is awesome because I really have no desire to do the hip surgery thing again (ever). His hamstrings do continue to get tight. But Dr. D is not anxious to do any kind of surgery on them yet. Andrew is only 8 1/2 and doing the surgery too soon would mean doing it again later. We want to put it off until Andrew hits puberty.

We also saw Dr. Bishop for GI (he ordered the swallow study). He discussed with me the possibility of doing a fundo-nissen because Andrew still has some issues with reflux (GERD). I basically said "no". Andrew is not having any respitory issues that would make us think he is aspirating, so at this point I think it would be an unnecessary and yucky surgery. Dr. B agreed so we're done with that conversation now. He did suggest we go back to overnight feeds though because Andrew's issues seem to be more volume issues. His tummy just can't hold it all in.

We see Neuro in June, and then I can breathe. Oh wait- eye is in there somewhere too. Guess I better check on that.

Now on to Aaron....

He's just been doing alot of projects lately that I wanted to share. He and I went with his scout pack down to the Coralville Reservior on Saturday for a conservation project. We joined with more Scouts, the DNR, Corp of Engineers, and Americorps clearing away invasive species of trees and shrubs from Woodpecker Trail. It was a great time. The weather held up until about 3:30 when the rain started and it just got plain cold. So we were cold, wet and cold. The boys had a lot of fun though.

This is the Webelos Den from Pack 37.

Kollin and Aaron taking a break.
Aaron and Kenny hard at work.

The Corp of Engineers had gone through and cut down a ton of trees which were laying on the side of the hills/slopes and in the gullies. Our job was to pull them all up to the top so they could be cut for firewood or put through the wood chipper. Once through the wood chipper the DNR uses them on the trails.

The Boys Scouts took time out to show the Cubs how to set up a tent. They then had a race to see who could set up a tent the fastest. The Boy Scouts were great. They all played Monkey in the Middle and other games. I'm thinking the Cubs can't wait for crossover in February.

The next project was changing a headlight in my minivan. I had a headlight out so it seemed like a prime opportunity for Aaron to work on one of his required achievements for Scouts.

Soccer! Need I say more. Spring soccer has been going on for about 4 weeks and still has two weeks to go. We're bummed because the season is so short. For whatever reason the soccer league has decided to have two games each Saturday so there is a shorter season instead of a longer one.

Aaron is doing awesome at soccer. He improves every year, but this year he seems to have found his equilibrium. Always before he seemed somewhat unbalanced and clumsy. He's staying after the ball and staying in the game and a "player" on the team.