Physical Therapy, Pumpkin Patch, and 11 Crazy Grandmas

So Torin has had a busy past week or so. We now have Physical Therapy every Wednesday morning. He has gone twice so far. I'm sure many of you are wondering what in the world does he need PT for. He has a condition called Torticollis (specifically congenital muscular torticollis). This is thought to happen in the womb and basically means that his neck muscles are tight and shorter on one side which causes him to be unable to turn his head (comfortably) to the left. We noticed he favored looking right so much so that he was getting a flat spot on his noggin and we noticed a slight delay in the gross motor skill of lifting his head. His pediatrician believes all of these are related to the Torticollis. It is also usually completely treatable with physical therapy.

So far he has been such a brave little guy at the PT. We are going to a place that specializes in all kinds of pediatric therapies. The physical therapist does gentle stretches and exercises to help loosen those tight muscles and strengthen his neck muscles. We are also given pointers on things to do at home. For example, we need do little tricks to keep him looking left like putting all the toys and interesting things to look at on that side and putting something boring (like a wall, :)) to his right side. We are already noticing quite a bit of difference in the range of motion of his head and he is starting to lift his head slightly when doing tummy time.

Last weekend was a busy one. We started off the Saturday morning taking Torin to a pumpkin patch. We had hoped to get some shots of him in his Halloween costume but it was already warming up for the day and he was so over the pumpkin patch. Ha! Seriously, why are all Halloween costumes made of fur. Don't costume makers realize that it is still hot in Texas in October? We got some pictures but didn't want to torture him too long.

After picking out a few pumpkins for our house, we headed down to New Braunfels to see my Mom and her Bunko gal pals. They were in this great house on the river (Note to Long family: would be a great place to hold our new annual summer get-together). We had a nice afternoon visiting with everyone. Of course, Torin charmed them all. We ended up going to dinner with them and it was so nice to have 11 grandmothers around to help with Torin. Probably one of the more peaceful meals Hector and I have had in a while. Yes, I said "peaceful" even with 11 cackling women around... just goes to show what are normal dinners are like these days which usually involves eating in shifts. We had him on-the-go all day and didn't get back to Austin until almost 11 pm and so yet again we realize how blessed we are to have such a laid back baby. He really is just a go with flow little man. Boy, I hope he stays that way. ;) And I'll be the first to admit, he did NOT get that from me... those genes are definitely from his daddy.

Here are some other pictures of the little cutie patootie... because I know as much as you love reading about the adventures of Torin, you really come here for the pics. :) Love to you all!