Brighton's First Haircut

Yesterday (11/14) evening we took Brighton to get his first haircut. We went to a place called Cookie Cutters that is just for kids. He got to pick out his own chair from an assortment of cars and airplanes. He even got to pick out a movie to watch. He did excellent - no tears or even whining!






They even gave him a certificate to commemorate the occasion.

Pee-Pee in the Potty!

It was a big night in our household tonight... Brighton went potty in his potty chair for the first time!!! We have been talking about it and reading books about it and even occasionally sitting on the potty chair. However, he typically tells me, "Not yet" when I ask him about going potty like a big boy.
I got him a new book about the potty tonight and so he agreed to sit on the chair while we read. We read a couple of potty books and when he got up, there was potty in there! Now, I'm not sure if it is the start of really potty training or if it is just like Donovan says - Indian rain dances "worked" simply because they danced until it finally rained. There is a slight possibility it happened just because he sat there so long.

Here is Brighton flushing his first pee-pee.

Here he is with his potty chair.

Santa arrives at Bass Pro

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Santa arrived at Bass Pro this evening on horse and carriage. Then, he flipped the switch to all the Christmas lights on the outside of the building. We didn't get very good pics of Santa outside - it was too dark and we were too far away.

After the lighting of the building, we moved inside for the giant Christmas tree lighting.
Here is Brighton & Rigley with the raccoons and sleigh by the tree.
We avoided the huge line to see Santa in his Winter Wonderland and opted instead to go see the turtles, fish, bears, etc. Brighton was very excited b/c Daddy let him get out of the stroller and walk.

Rigley's big day

Rigley had his first appointment today with Dr. Dobbs at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Dr. Dobbs and his staff are WONDERFUL!!!! As you may know, our pediatrician had referred us to University Hospital in Columbia where Rigley got his first set of casts put on. The doctor there put him completely under with anesthesia to do the casting and had planned on doing that every week for 5-6 weeks. The way the doctor explained it to us made it sound like that was just standard procedure. Rigley had such a difficult time coming out from the anesthesia and I started doing more research on clubfoot and treatments. Through my research I found a support group for parents of children with clubfoot and found out that putting a baby completely out to cast was NOT standard procedure. In fact, no one else had ever heard of such a thing. Through this group we also found out that one of the world's premier clubfoot clinics was in St. Louis. Dr. Dobbs has done (& is doing) extensive research on clubfoot.
So, we set about trying to get an appointment with him. His nurse actually contacted me through the support group message board to help. Praise God - we talked to our insurance and they will cover Dr. Dobbs as in network!! Everything at the clinic today made me feel so at ease. First off, St. Louis Children's Hospital is a beautiful facility and everyone is very helpful. The staff at the Orthopedic Clinic was also great. I feel so good knowing that Rigley's feet are being corrected by one of the top clubfoot doctors in the world.
The casting took very little time and Rigley hardly even fussed. They gave me a bag full of toys to distract him with and it worked beautifully. He was so hungry when we finished that he held his own bottle! Yes, he actually held his own bottle - not like the pictures we took of Brighton where his hand was on the bottle, but we cropped where it showed our hand actually holding the bottle! :)


Rigley also had his first real tears today. We were about 30 miles from home and he was done riding in the car seat! Granted, he had been in the car for over 6 hours at that point of the day.


Here are his new casts.

Rigley Laughing

Rigley has been giggling off and on for quite a while, but the last few days he has really started laughing.

Here is a video of him laughing at Mommy. (Don't mind his exposed tummy - I was changing his shirt when he got the giggles!)

G-R-E-E-N

Here is Brighton singing a song he learned at Stroller Strides this morning. (We are doing color-themed classes and today was green.)



It is supposed to go, "G-R-E-E-N, G-R-E-E-N, That is how we spell green, G-R-E-E-N"
However, he got stuck on the G-R-E-E-N part! :)

Fall Fun

Brighton helped his daddy rake leaves after church yesterday. Then he came in to get Rigley and Mommy so he could show us the big piles and how he jumps in them.

Brighton thought that Rigley needed his pumpkin.