Our 6 Year Old 1st Grader

Lin-Ley informed us that on June 11th (her last day of Kindergarten) she was officially a 1st Grader. Today (although we have been celebrating since Friday) she turned 6 years old. How time flies!

The birthday festivities began on Friday at the local dinner theatre for a production of "All Shook Up". It was a musical loosely based on the life of Elvis Presley and his music. It was great and Lin-Ley enjoyed it as well. Aunt Diane and Uncle Ted joined us and luckily they brought along their gift to Lin-Ley (art supplies) so she was well occupied between dinner and the show. There were many people there celebrating birthdays. Lin-Ley's name was the second one called. Before the host could finish her name Lin-Ley had her hand in the air waving it around so that everyone in the theatre would be sure to see her. That gave us all a chuckle and Lin-Ley was just very pleased that all of those people had come there to help celebrate her birthday.

Saturday was party time at Chuck E. Cheese. Lin-Ley had told me over three months ago that she wanted to have her next birthday party there. I assumed she would change her mind a few times but she stuck to it.

The birthday girl and 12 of her preschool, kindergarten, chinese school and church friends ran wild and had a blast.

It was all about Mariposa Barbie this birthday. There was no Mariposa birthday cake so a Ballerina Barbie cake was chosen.

Unfortunately Barbie was supposed to stand and spin on the little purple stage but it did not work. So Barbie had to be stuck right into the cake. To make matters worse... all of the cake top decorations, which Lin-Ley wanted to bring home, were left on the table at the restaurant. Oh the drama!

Chuck E. Cheese came out to sing a birthday song, led a parade around the restaurant and then joined the party for birthday cake.

I could never get all of the kids in one photo but here are most of them.


For the third year Lin-Ley has asked her birthday guests to bring gifts for her chosen charity rather than for herself. This year she collected dog toys, treats, etc. for "Soldier Dogs". These are military dogs serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other military locations. She gets a big kick out of the fact that there are dogs that are soldiers like her Daddy.
If you have any interest in learning more about this program (K-9 Support) look for their link in our "Charitable Organizations To Consider" section at the right hand side of our blog.


Of course every child deserves to open gifts at her birthday party. So Mommy and Daddy delivered. Lin-Ley had only asked for two things:
Mariposa Barbie and her friend Willa. Done!









It was a real party weekend. Saturday was Lin-Ley's party and Sunday was Amilee's party. Lin-Ley and Amilee met at chinese school and have the exact same birthday. Amilee had a gymnastics party and Lin-Ley enjoyed her second party in as many days.


After nap time it was time to head outside to try out the new bubble machine.
Lin-Ley and Tru enjoyed marching through the bubbles although in the beginning Tru was quite hesitant.
Lin-Ley of course was wearing her weekend/playtime uniform. Granny Howard (Diane's mother) gave Lin-Ley this Barbie gown about three years ago. She has consistently worn it as often as possible since then.

Today was Lin-Ley's first day of summer camp. By this afternoon she already had a new best friend name Lilly. They are already planning play dates at each other's homes. Before we could leave the park the two of them had to hug six times. It was so cute!

Since it was officially her birthday we went out for a quick dinner at a local diner. The meal of choice.... spaghetti.

Tru continues to surprise me with his love of lettuce. I have never seen anything like it. Two lettuce leaves were under my sandwich. He reached right over, slid the lettuce off of my plate, and proceed to eat it. Apparently it was better than his spaghetti.

Not to be out done by her brother Lin-Ley strikes her own silly pose.

It was home to more birthday presents, bath and bed.

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

Miscellaneous:

For the first time I was finally able to get some photos of Tru getting his hair cut. This was his 5th hair cut and the first time he sat alone in the chair. He absolutely hates it but did very well this time.

Look at that face!

Lin-Ley's last day of Kindergarten with her bus driver (and pal) Ms. Gibson.

The Countdown

Big news! Dallas has found out that his deployment will be ending about 60 days earlier than expected. So our blog counter has been adjusted. 99 days and counting...

Photo Essay About Tru

Jonathan Hanson is the photo-journalist that has been following Tru’s progress between his amputation and receiving his prosthesis and walking. While he is still working on the story for the newspaper publication he has created a picture package / essay on his website about Tru. These are not necessarily the photos that will be used in the article. Actually Jonathan told me that he has taken over 2,000 photos of Tru.
(Just for the record – the photo of me sitting on top of Tru is my attempt to brush his teeth. Yes, this method is quite necessary!)

To see Jonathan’s photos click on this link:

http://www.jonathanhansonphotography.com/main.php

Then click "porfolios"
Then click "essays/picture packages"
Then click "Tru"

Rethinking The Knee

It is all up in the air now. Is Tru ready for a fully functioning knee or is it too soon? As is obvious from my last two posts Tru's knee has been giving him some problems and as a result some major bumps and bruises.

The knee component in Tru's prosthesis is meant to bend and spring back into place for his next step just like a natural knee. In order for it to work Tru has to walk with his leg under him and hit the ball of his foot just right to trigger the knee component. He does sometimes trigger it by accident which usually results in a tumble.

Well when Tru began walking with his prosthesis the knee component was locked and he had to swing his leg out to the side slightly in order take the next step. He adapted to that method very quickly. To him that method still works so why change things now? All he knows is that from time to time and without reason (to him) his knee now bends and he falls down and hurts himself.

His physical therapist, Lisa, was able to tighten the knee so that it is much more resistant. At the therapy session she loosens the knee is order to help Tru practice. And there lies another problem. In Tru's mind he can walk. Period. Therefore, he does not want Lisa to try to help him. When she tries to hold his leg/knee/hip to help him walk properly (to trigger the knee) he become very agitated and does all he can to get away from her. Perhaps another sign he is not ready for the knee.

Here are the problems:

He does not understand what triggers the knee.

Our explanations and attempts to demonstrate the knee result in frustration.

Not knowing what triggers the knee causes many falls. (Luckily he is getting better at catching himself rather than landing on his noggin!)


Tru has surpassed everyone expectations with his adapting to the prosthesis and walking. Because he adapted so quickly it was decided he was ready for the knee only 1.5 weeks after first receiving the prosthesis which is unheard of. [A side story - Lisa worked at a children's hospital in New York for 11 years. In that time she worked with many amputees. She told me that Tru is the youngest amputee patient she has worked with and by far the quickest to adapt to a prosthesis.]

Tru's physical therapist, orthopedic surgeon and prosthetist are a little stumped on what to do. Actually come to find out this topic (for children Tru's age) is up in the air throughout the medical field. Until recently the standard was to keep children's prosthetic knees locked until around age seven. Just recently they have changed the "rules" to add the knee whenever the child was ready.

Hmmmmm......

I have thought about it and thought about it some more. I do not want to take away any chance Tru has to progress. He is doing better with the falling and has learned when to slow down so that there is less of a chance of triggering the knee. I have also observed that lately there have been a few times when he unknowingly triggered the knee and he was able to right himself without falling. Progress!

We shall see what the medical professionals have to say...