Update on Aiden

Just a quick update on how he is doing for the many people that ask about him on a daily basis:

He's doing really well. We couldn't be more pleased with the result of his first surgery on his hands and feet with Dr. Fearon. The recovery and healing period went much smoother than I was anticipating which makes the approaching second surgery less stressful.

The inner spaces between his fingers healed nicely with minimal scarring. Most of the scarring appears to be on the top of his hand. The inside, where his palm is, looks very smooth. I absolutely love being able to finally stick my fingers into his hand for him to grasp. That's one of the things that most people love about new born babies, something that we had to wait 9 months to experience.

We continue to have 3 therapies a week - Physical, Occupational and Developmental. Since his surgery he is progressing nicely, however he is understandably a bit behind in some areas of gross and fine motor skills. He will be 11 months on Sunday and has yet to crawl and is still pretty wobbly on his feet, but we know it will all come in time.

Cognitively, I am happy to report that he is right on track. His therapist is amazed that he is doing so well - probably because none of us truly knew what to expect from a child with Apert Syndrome. He will wave, imitate sounds, raise his arms for "So Big", turn pages in books, look for certain objects when asked (the cat, daddy, etc.) and understands cause and effect. All typical milestones of his age group.

He loves his brother and watches everything he does. We're hoping this will help him progress. Ethan is still very sweet with him - only occasionally pushing him over while he is sitting then shouting "Uh, oh...fell over" as if I didn't see him do it. He's starting to become more aware of Aiden's hands being different. He said to me the other day "Mommy, Aiden go to doctor." When I asked him why, he replied, "For his hands". I prodded further, asking him what the doctor did for his hands and he said "Aiden's hands open now!"

I almost cried. I'm proud of Ethan for being so observant, but I'm also more aware of the great responsibility I have to teach Ethan about his little brother as he begins to understand more and more.

Overall - we've been very blessed to have two boys that have wonderful dispositions and vibrant personalities. Aiden is one of the happiest babies - always smiling, very rarely fussing. It definitely makes it easier on us as parents.

I will keep everyone updated as we approach his next surgery date - February 19. And I will of course be bringing my laptop to Dallas so that I can provide info to everyone while we're there as well.