Healthy and Strong

Yesterday I took Brayden to a Pediatric Opthamologist for a more specified eye exam. We have noticed, occasionally, that one eye tends to be "lazy" and turn out or is simply delayed in focusing with the other eye. This concerns us because Chris' mom had a lazy eye and had corrective surgery for it as a child. They say the sooner you spot these kinds of things in children, the better the chances of correcting the problem. But, Brayden checked out just fine! The doctor, who I liked very well, said he has two very healthy and strong eyes, and that if the tendency exists, it is well-controlled and may only happen on occassions when he is extremely tired. In the meantime, we will "keep an eye on it!" :)

Update on standing: So I know I'm no physical therapist, but I've made it a point everyday to encourage Brayden to stand and strengthen the muscles and tendons surrounding his ankles and feet. We practice by putting blocks and other toys on the coffee table for him to play with while I hold him at the waist in a standing position. This seems to work well, as he can stand for a good 5-7 minutes. We also practice standing on the kitchen floor with me simply holding his hands while he stands and I usually sing a song I made up about standing! This really helps too and yesterday he even wanted to take a few steps! He is no where near doing it on his own, but I'm okay with that. He's learning.

One other cute thing: Brayden is fascinated with wheels, turning cups upside down, and books! His Aunt Julie and Uncle Brian and cousins Ellie and Aubs gave him a BIG Tonka dump truck for his birthday. He loves to fill it up with books, dump them out, turn the truck on its side and spin the wheels! He will forego all the musical toys now (well, most of them) in preference for surrounding himself with a pile of books and flipping through those instead. It is the cutest thing! I even turned around the other day at a stop light to check on him (because I hadn't heard any chatter in a while) and he had fallen asleep with a book wide open in his lap---too CUTE!