44/52 - Hip Dysplasia, the End of Soccer

This past week, we got some disappointing medical news about Oskar. But let me back up a minute first.

In the hospital, newborns get all sorts of screenings shortly after they are born. One of those screenings checks the joints to make sure that they are formed correctly and functional. When we were in the hospital with Oskar for the better part of week, we saw a number of different pediatricians. About half of those thought that they noticed a "click" or "pop" in Oskar's left hip. The doctors didn't seem to be overly concerned about it but did mention that we could followup with an orthopedist to be sure.

Oskar was breech in utero, and breech babies to have a higher incidence of hip problems due to the way they are positioned. For comparison, here are Oskar (breech) and Anders (vertex, aka normal) and the default position of their legs.

Oskar...

...and Anders

We got a recommendation for a pediatric orthopedist and scheduled an appointment. At the first appointment, Oskar wasn't terribly cooperative; he kept his legs tense, so the doctor couldn't get a good feel of his hip movement. The orthopedist also wasn't terribly concerned but recommended that we schedule an ultrasound just to be on the safe side.

By now, I'm sure that you've guessed the outcome of the ultrasound. Oskar's left hip has dysplasia, a condition where the hip joint is not correctly formed. You can see the difference between the normal right (top) and dysplastic left (bottom).

Hip ultrasound

In Oskar's case, the malformation is relatively mild; the hip socket is shallow, but the ball is still in roughly the correct place. There are much more severe cases where the ball is completely dislocated from the socket. Nevertheless, without treatment it would likely result in serious hip problems later or an early hip replacement.

The recommended treatment: Oskar is to wear a harness that keeps his leg at a slightly acute angle (<90°) from his torso. Since all of his bones are still soft and growing, the hope is that keeping the leg in this position will encourage the socket and ball to grow into the correct shape. Apparently this approach has a very high rate of success. If it doesn't work, then the alternative path involves surgery to correct the joint manually. In either case, the result should be a normal hip with no issues in the future.

At the end of the appointment, the orthopedist put the harness on Oskar and showed us how to do it. Oskar will probably wear this for the next 2-3 months, taking it off only for baths. (In worse cases than ours, the harness is kept on at all times, with only sponge baths allowed!)

We weren't mentally prepared for this scenario when we went to the appointment; we were merely dotting the i's and crossing the t's. The doctor warned us that the next several days probably wouldn't be easy. Babies often have a difficult time adjusting to the harness (justifiably!).

Here is a stock photo of the harness, followed by a photo of Oskar just a few hours after having it fitted. See if you can spot the main difference.

Stock photo...

... and reality

After we got over the initial shock of the situation, we had to try to move on with the rest of our day. We had lots of other things planned that day, including having our "new" car repaired. When the dealership sent us to the local Enterprise rental car for a loaner and all they had was trucks, that didn't add to our enjoyment of the day. And when the one-day repair was now stretching out to a second day, that wasn't so good either. But we made it home and tried to adjust.

New parents are taught about purple crying, but we didn't experience it until the harness. Oskar loved to kick his legs, but with the harness he would go into a crying fit everytime he tried to move. Nursing sessions all started with crying. And naps were pretty poor. He was generally pretty irritable; it felt like we had lost a part of his personality. We had read about newly-harnessed babies only sleeping for 15 minutes at a time during the night. Fortunately for all of us, the harness didn't seem to affect Oskar's nighttime sleep. After about a week, things started to get better; he was crying less and smiling more. We put a onesie on under the harness to help prevent irritation from the harness, and we're learning how to change a diaper efficiently through and around the harness. Fun times.

Since he wears the harness all the time, there are lots of clothes that he can't wear. Pants, for example. Or anything with legs, really. Donna made a couple of sleep sacks from some cool fabrics, to fill part of that wardrobe gap.

The first follow-up is in early December, when we'll see how the hip is progressing. Wish us luck!

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In other news, Anders' 1st and 2nd grade soccer team had their last game this past week. Last year, Anders played like a ref: always near the ball but never interacting with it. This year he really engaged and loved playing, and the team was actually pretty decent! At this age, there is no keeper (aka goalie), no corner kicks, and they don't keep official score. But of course the kids kept score themselves anyway.

Anders picked up a few tips from watching all of those Olympic soccer games, primarily how to celebrate a goal (victory lap with arms in the air) and how to block the opponent during throw-ins. Sometimes he is paying more attention to blocking the opponent than receiving his own team's throw-ins, but he's learning.

They had a pretty rainy season, but only one game had to be rescheduled entirely. Mostly, they just got wet and had fun. As parents, we enjoyed the required downtime in the beautiful outdoors.

They celebrated the end of the season with a pizza party in the park.

A few days after the "last" game and end of season celebration, the rained-out game was rescheduled. Between the two teams, there were 4 kids from the same preschool class. Reunion!

Anders is already looking forward to next year.

- Mike, Corinne, Anders, and Oskar

7/52 - Skiing, Cheer Clinic, Valentine's Day

Anders and I are learning to downhill ski! Before Anders was around, Corinne and I learned to snowboard. But when Anders arrived, it was difficult for us to make (or justify) the time to go to the mountain, since we'd have to leave Anders behind. And although snowboarding was lots of fun, there were definitely times when we were envious of the skiers around us; trying to make it across a flat section on a snowboard is annoying. Anders has several friends who are learning to ski, so now seemed like a good time.

Cooper Spur is the closest resort on Mt. Hood, and also conveniently the least expensive. It only has a single lift and a relatively small network of runs, but when you are learning that doesn't particularly matter. Anything that points downhill is generally challenging.

We started with a 1-hour private lesson, just the two of us with an instructor. The main goal was to figure out how to move around with all of this weird gear on our bodies.

Anders thought the ski boots felt great (?!), and he had a good attitude about the whole experience. The instructor commented at the end of our lesson that he had "the best laugh on the mountain." At the end of the lesson, the first thing Anders asked me was: "Dad, can we come back next weekend?"

So we did. But unfortunately, when we got here all of the lessons were full. (There was some sort of "big game" going on, and only one instructor had showed up that day.) I didn't think we were quite ready to try to explore the mountain ourselves yet, so we opted to spend some time on the snow tubing run and try again the following weekend.

This time, we arrived first thing in the morning and were the first in line to register. (It must be fun if we are willing to get up at 6am on a Saturday for it!) Since I've been snowboarding and cross country skiing previously, some of the muscle memory from those sports started to transfer over for me. So the instructor spent most of his time working with Anders, occasionally giving me some tips.

Anders got pretty frustrated trying to get up after falling. The instructor nicknamed him "noodle legs" because when you tried to help him up, his legs stayed pretty limp until you had pulled him most of the way up. But slowly, slowly, he started to figure it out. After the lesson, we took a snack break then decided to take our first trip on the lift.

Top of the lift! That's the trail map for the whole resort.

We were both a little apprehensive about that first run. The first slope was icy and steeper than anything we had done during lessons. We took it slow, just traversing across the slope, falling down, manually flipping the skis around, then heading back the other way.

Watch this video on YouTube
or in the original post

By the time we got to the second half of the run, things were starting to click. At this point, Anders pointed downhill and just took off to the bottom! I kept yelling for him to slow down, but he kept his skis pointed in a bit and never seemed to be out of control. He ended up doing 3 runs that day, taking a break after the second run to rest his legs while I went up again. I never did manage to catch up to him enough to get any video of his runs at the bottom.

Looks like we have our weekends scheduled through the rest of this winter.

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For the second year in a row, Anders participated in the Cheer Clinic at the Trout Lake School. The clinic invites elementary students to learn the basics of cheerleading from the high school cheerleaders and culminates in a half-time performance during a high school game. Anders loves singing, dancing and performing, so this was right up his alley.

Last year, he and his friend Bridger were the only two boys that participated, and the organizers didn't really seem prepared for them. The T-shirts they had made for the clinic were hot pink and had giant ribbons on them! They did manage to find a couple yellow Trout Lake shirts for them to wear before the performance, but this year we worked with them to make it a more friendly and open event for anyone. Several parents had said that if they knew the event was open to both boys and girls that their sons would have participated as well!

This year's poster design featured both male and female silhouettes; as a result, they had a much higher male representation in the group. Sometimes in a small school, that's all it takes to change the perceptions of a sport.

Watch this video on YouTube
or in the original post

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Happy Valentine's Day! This year we went the ultra-romantic route: we took down our Christmas tree, updated the family budget, and cleaned the dryer vent.

- Mike, Corinne, and Anders

38/52 - Soccer and Friends

Anders is playing on one of the Trout Lake soccer teams this season. It's a K-2nd team of 8 kids, though not everyone is able to attend each practice or game. They play 5 kids on a team at a time, which doesn't leave much opportunity for substitution. By the end of the game the kids are pretty tired. But they have a good time running around chasing the ball.

At the beginning of the season, we joked that Anders would make a great soccer referee: he's always near the ball but has a strict code of non-interference. Now that we're a few weeks in, his skills are improving. But I think he'd still rather watch to see what happens.

Now, if we can just get him to keep his tongue in his mouth when he plays.

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As a continuation of Anders's birthday celebration, he wanted to have an overnight with Lauren and Bridger. We took it as an opportunity to have the families over for dinner, then release the parents kid-free until the following day.

And we obviously needed more cake, right?

The kids all slept together on a futon mattress on the floor. But when we checked on them an hour or so after bedtime, Anders was the only one not yet asleep, and it didn't seem like he had much room left on the bed. He happily retreated to his own bed back in his bedroom. But by the morning when we got up, ALL of the kids had migrated to Anders's bed sometime during the night.

Fun!

- Mike, Corinne, and Anders

15/52 - Anders in T-Ball

With the arrival of spring, Anders has been introduced to the next season's sport: baseball. The Trout Lake T-Ball team is 7 kids, all of whom will be his classmates when he starts at the Trout Lake School in September. At the first practice, it was clear that Anders didn't really know much about baseball. But he was in good company with many of his teammates. For three weeks they practiced a couple hours per week learning the basics of throwing, catching, fielding and hitting. Anders enjoyed running the bases.

Before the team had even put all of the pieces together, it was time for Opening Day! The first pitch of the Mt Adams Little League was thrown by a local celebrity of sorts: Vic Wild, two-time Olympic gold medal snowboarder, who grew up in White Salmon, WA!

I didn't know the rules for T-ball until the first game, even though I was one of the volunteer coaches. Here they are in a nutshell. Every person bats once per inning, and there are 3 or 4 innings, whichever seems closer to about an hour of play (variable based on team sizes and pace of play.) Each team bats once through the order, hitting the ball off of a tee. The batter and each runner advance by one base each time. When the last batter is up, he automatically gets a grand slam, clears the bases, and the teams switch. Fielding involves getting to the ball, picking it up, and throwing it to first base. There are no outs. No one plays in the outfield (for obvious reasons).

The team.

Our team had a lot of parent participation, with around four regular parent/coaches including the official coach (whose son is also on the team.) Once the kids had the basics, the majority of the coaching was making sure that they were paying attention and in their "ready position" when in the field. It often looked like this:

Yes, this is during a game.

It's been fun watching the kids grow and learn new skills. Give them a uniform, batting helmet, and glove and it almost looks like they know what they are doing. The team sponsor was a local engineering firm - Tenneson Engineering - so the uniforms even said Engineering!

A local professional photographer took team and individual photos; I'm assuming they were for the Topps trading cards yet to be issued. For the individual shot, the photographer took just one shot of each child. ONE PHOTO. And somehow, magically, Anders was both looking at the camera AND had a nice smile. Amazing.

For the group photo, we got some comments from the photographer on the ratio of coaches to players (one player was absent), but I say the more the merrier.

That's not a backdrop; it's real. Best T-Ball field in the country.

With only 9 games in the season, this year's T-ball will be over before we know it. But I have a strong suspicion that Anders will be back next year.

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We'll leave you with this Anders quote of the week and a photo from last summer:

Anders: Mom, did you know that sometimes you have to be uncomfortable?
Corinne: You do? Why?
Anders: To look fancy.

Fancy. (And uncomfortable.)

- Mike, Corinne and Anders

8/52 - Sweaters, Socks, Sleepovers and Sports

Corinne has been knitting up a storm recently. Back in November, she finished this red sweater for Anders.

As is often the case, she had some yarn leftover when she was done. So she decided to make matching socks. But alas, she ran out of yarn when she was down to the toe of the second sock. Rather than trying to find another skein of that same yarn (and continuing the never-ending cycle of leftover yarn), she decided that she would finish it off with leftover yarn from a different project. Anders chose the color from three different options.

Crazy socks!

Anders's favorite sock is the crazy one.

She has another project already underway, which is a larger version of a sweater knitted by our friend Davy. We affectionately call it the "Sock Monkey Sweater."

She has a great teacher and consultant, too. My mom recently made Anders and I these "matching" sweaters.

Thanks, mom(s)!

Friday night we had our first multi-child sleepover: three 5-year olds (including Anders) and a 2-year old. According to the kids, they were not going to sleep at all that night. As Anders explained to one of the other kids while driving to preschool the prior morning:

"We're going to stay up all night. We will close our eyes and pretend to sleep until everyone else goes to bed. Then we can get up and play and do whatever we want!"

It should be noted that while this conversation was happening in the back seat, I was in the front of the car driving, and Anders was speaking in a normal voice.

Lauren had a different idea:

"We're going to slap our foreheads and eat chocolate before bedtime."

Anders was more excited for this sleepover than we have ever seen him before - more so than even Christmas or his birthday! They all had a great time playing together, with only a few incidents needing any mediation. By the time everyone was ready to get into bed, it was close to 10pm. We set up a futon mattress in our great room and put all of the kids together.

Storytime

We're not sure what time they finally fell asleep; the 2-year old was first to go, but I think the older kids were still awake when we fell asleep. According to Anders the next morning, they didn't stay up all night but they didn't sleep very well because one of the other kids "kept waking them up." Staying up all night is one of those things that isn't as fun as it sounds; just wait until college...

Everyone tucked-in

One of the kids awoke at 6:20am, and just minutes later everyone was up. The morning activities included the last youth basketball practice of the season, and all of the kids participated (sans 2-year old). For the first time, they played an actual scrimmage game. Anders was pretty good on defense and has a good defensive stance. His stance was so good that he decided to use it for the entire game, regardless of whether they were playing offense or defense. After practice, the kids went home with their parents.

That afternoon, Anders just wanted to "take a rest and watch a show." We took his cue and spent the afternoon relaxing and catching up on the Olympics. We sampled the highlights of most sports; Anders chose curling, speed skating and bobsleigh as his favorites. After the previous 24 hours, we were all ready for some relaxation. (Thanks, BBC!)

- Mike, Corinne, and Anders

2/52

This past week we discovered that the Elementary School in White Salmon has roller skating in the gymnasium in the winter. It lasts for an hour on Thursday nights and they provide skates and music. Anders has never been skating before - either ice or roller - but this was a good way to get him started.

By about 5 minutes in, the gymnasium was full of kids spinning and falling. Anders really had no idea how to handle skates. We took turns basically holding him up while he floundered around.

Such form!

He took a few spills but he continued in good spirits.

This one didn't end well.

Being there with his friends Lauren and Bridger definitely kept him more engaged and motivated through the spills and frustrations.

By the end of the hour, Anders was still very unstable but had made some progress and didn't need quite as much support.

On the drive home, Anders surprised us both with his optimistic view of roller skating.

I'm going to learn how to do tricks. On my roller skates!

Then, a little later:

We should also buy some ramps, so that I can do tricks. Then we can make a whole show!

Looks like there may be more roller skating in our future. Hopefully his balance and control will get better with practice, because his parents are still sore from leaning over and holding him up for an hour!

Sometime in the past year or so, Anders has decided that his favorite food is cheese pizza. (It's a far cry from what he had previously declared: "green beans.") It was time for Anders to help make it himself.

We have made dough with him several times recently. I try to keep it educational and still interesting with little bits of wisdom along the way. I don't think he will ever forget that "the holes in bread are caused by yeast tooting."

He also learned several other important lessons:
1. He likes pepperoni, despite his protestations to the contrary prior to tasting it.
2. Pepperoni pizza is just cheese pizza with pepperoni on it.

Another milestone was passed this week: Anders watched his first complete movie that was made in the last 50 years. He is a sensitive person and has a particularly hard time with mean people in movies. Prior to this weekend, the only movies¹ that Anders has watched in their entirety were: It's A Pleasure (1945), Royal Wedding (1951), and White Christmas (1954). We have attempted several others - Mary Poppins, Aristocats, Cars - but all required some skipping ahead or, in the case of the last one, having to stop entirely after only the first 5 minutes.

We can now happily report that we all thoroughly enjoyed Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, all the way through. Not only was the movie made in the last 50 years, it was made this century!

This was a big week of athletic firsts for Anders. In addition to roller skating, he also went to his first youth basketball event at the Trout Lake School. Anders has never played basketball before, but he was really excited to go. For an hour and a half, a group of about 20 kids around his age learned how to pass, dribble, and shoot. Or at least they received some instruction on those topics.

Anders has undoubtedly seen people play basketball before, but I guess he wasn't paying very close attention. When he was asked to dribble the ball, he dropped it to the floor and kicked it around just like he learned at soccer camp this past summer.

Shooting came relatively easily to him. He made his first shot attempt and had pretty reasonable form.

His dribbling, passing and catching skills, on the other hand, could use more practice.

Believe it or not, he actually did catch this one.

Between roller skating and basketball, Anders is going to get a good workout over the next few months!

- Mike, Corinne and Anders

¹ Technically, we also all watched Follow That Bird, but that hardly counts as a real movie.