my kid's HELLA smart

So, ages ago, our pediatrician suggested that we get the little D into physical therapy.  I asked our ortho about it, and she said, no, we don't need it.   She'll catch up when she's good and ready.  And of course her legs are stiff because she was still in the brace at the time.  So PT was unlikely to do any good because well, hello, her legs were going to go right back into that position for a good portion of the day.

Of course I happened to mention this to my folks and they wouldn't let it go.  "What about physical therapy?"  my mom would ask incessantly.   Because, you know, she knows best, and we all know my mom's propensity for getting the best deal from our docs.  Apparently a friend of theirs, a pediatrician, had also asked about PT.  It could just be one of those things where reasonable minds differ, but I'm going to go with the opinion of our specialist who treats our daughter for the condition, thanks very much. And I say that even though I love our ped and trust her quite a bit.  And you know, my mother and whichever random friend she was talking to.

And the annoying thing was that my mom would NOT let it go.  "Your mom was saying she'll be fine after she gets some physio" a cousin from India was telling me one time when we were talking about Diya's hips.  Um, ok yes, sure.  After every ped appointment, my mom would ask pointedly, "What did your doctor say about the hips?"  Usually, I'd blow it off with something along the lines of how we went to our ped for a regular check up, not for hip stuff.  Once, she said, "But pediatricians know a lot too."  And I knew exactly what she was passive-aggressively referring to.  OMG, already, my mother does not know how to let something go.  And really, why would you go against the advice of your specialist and worry about somehow undoing all the progress you've already made?  It made no sense to me.  But I think the difference between our ped (and my mother apparently) is that they were concerned about the little D's milestones, that she wasn't standing/walking, etc.  But our ortho (and G and I) are concerned first with the state of her hips.  Kids with dysplasia are perfectly capable of standing and walking, which is why the condition can sometimes go undiagnosed for a while.  It doesn't say much about the actual hip development if she can walk or not.  So while we waited anxiously for her to reach each milestone, I think the priority had to be first on the x-rays.

In January, when our ortho decided to let the little D free from her brace entirely, her hip wasn't quite fixed yet.  But what tipped the decision was that our kid was still really stiff, and our doc thought giving her some time to loosen up could only help with the hip development.  Well, last month, we had our hip appointment and guess what, our kid's hips are PERFECT!   The ortho actually said that she had to look at the old x-rays to remind herself which hip had been dislocated!!!!  So as far as the radiology is concerned, we are totally in the clear.  We'll continue to monitor to make sure everything is developing correctly, but I think the chances of her needing any further intervention are pretty slim now.  We'll still keep going in for increasingly less frequent x-rays until the little D's 18, so we'll become excellent friends with our ortho.

So NOW, it's just a matter of catching up.  And so far, she's still really stiff.  Having her off the brace helped a lot, and we see so much improvement, but we still have a long ways to go.  So at this point, our ortho doc thought it might be a good time to try some physical therapy.  HA, guess what I'm not telling my mother?  :)

Anyway, we've been going for a few weeks now.  A day or two before we went, Diya took her first few steps unassisted.  I didn't see it, but G did.  At the PT appointment, she took a few more and it was exciting for me to see it finally.  Oh, guess what, too?  The PT has all kinds of toys to get the kids to do stuff, but you know what our kid likes?  These little fruit/yogurt bites.  So yah, we tempt her around the room with treats, similar to how we did our dog training.  :)  The PT's sort of helping her walk but she seems to agree that D is pretty close on her own already.  Instead, she's more focused on the stiffness.  Our kid doesn't really bend her knees when she walks, especially with her "bad" leg.  Her hips are extremely stiff. So she's given us exercises to strengthen the pelvic bone and the hip, and to make her use her right hip when climbing.  She noticed for example, that when she's coming to a stand, our kid leads with her left hip and then just kind of drags her right one along after, without having to put weight on it.  So this means she's been developing unevenly as far as strength goes.

Kind of as aside, the PT has also been doing some developmental testing to gauge the little D's abilities in other areas.  And is it sad that THIS was the reason I wanted to post?  I mean, sure I'm EXCITED about the hips, and THRILLED about the walking.  But guess what had me cheerful all last week?  Our kid apparently has amazing fine motor skills and visual motor skills.  I watched, impressed, as she had the little D performing tasks that I didn't even know she could do. Twist off the tops of the bottles, stack blocks in different positions, draw lines on paper the way the PT was doing (up/down, across, etc).  At one point, the therapist was looking for harder tasks to give her because she was acing everything.  "Um, you haven't let her play with scissors yet, have you?  Cuz that'd be next."  We had not.  At least in these two areas, she was at the 31-month level and counting.  Plus, I guess her vocabulary is pretty good for her age, too.  So TAKE THAT, hip dysplasia!