Not a baby anymore

Sophie Kate continues to be on a roll of "firsts."  Her first laugh last Tuesday was followed by losing her first tooth on Wednesday (Sept. 5).  It happened as I was getting her into her wheelchair to go into school.  Knowing since her last dentist appointment that she had a couple of loose teeth, my fear was that it would come loose in her mouth and that she might aspirate it.  When it came loose it slipped under her tongue, but luckily I was able to fish it out.  The tooth she lost was on the bottom and right in the middle and the two teeth on either side of the one she lost are loose as well.  She may have quite a gap of missing teeth if all those decide to come out at the same time.  SK is inching closer and closer to her 5th birthday and losing teeth is just another sign that I don't have a baby anymore.

I have mentioned before how important it is for SK to bear weight on her feet.  The way she does that is in a stander. The school has one she uses there and they are very generous to let us use it over the summer.  We have tried to get insurance to pay for one for home use, but they don't see it as medically necessary.  They don't mind paying for surgery after surgery to correct all the problems she may have but refuse to pay for something that could keep all of that from happening in the first place...makes perfect sense, doesn't it...don't get me started!

Children's Rehabilitation Services (CRS) has come through with a stander for us and they delivered it on Friday. SK has been in it every day since.  She loves being upright and being on eye level us and her brothers.  How do I know? Because she has the sweetest grin on her face and even turns her head from side to side to look around.

I mentioned hope in the last post and how scary that can be just when you start getting comfortable with the way things are.  After seeing his sister in her new stander, Grey commented, "I can't wait until she can stand on her own, you know without that."  He really thinks she might do that one day...he hasn't lost hope.  I pray nothing in life ever comes down so hard on him as to cause him to lose hope. What happened in my pessimistic "grownup" mind that I lost hope?  It's a fine line we walk...reality, hope and doing everything we possibly can to give her every opportunity for a full, healthy life.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."