Laughing, and our "hip" baby

Clara thinks that the frequency of my blog posting is laughable. Here is proof:



In other news, Clara has recently been diagnosed with hip dysplasia. This means that her hip sockets are not forming properly, and not cupping the top of the femur bone as they should. Her case is mild; we only discovered it because she had been dragging one foot while crawling, and her doctor recommended getting precautionary x-rays. Clara is not in any pain now, but if left untreated the condition could lead to early arthritis and/or hip replacement when she hits her 20s.

What does this mean for now? For the next four months or so, Clara will be wearing a hip abduction brace 23/7 (one-hour break per day for bathtime and general brace-free romping). This treatment is generally very effective, and she should be walking and dancing without any trouble after this. She has been fitted with a Rhino Cruiser brace (second model on linked page), which lets her keep quite a bit of mobility. She got the brace on Thursday, and is already learning to crawl, "cruise" and sit up. We'll post some pictures of her sporting her new "fancy pants" soon.

Please pray for her hips and general well-being as we tackle these next months. She is a bit frustrated at the moment, but is still her jolly self, our same little peanut.

Clara the Bookworm

This is Clara's favorite new game: pulling all of her books off the shelf into a pile on the floor, then sitting on the pile and reading. Tails, Ten Little Ladybugs and Clara Cow Wraps Up Warm are usually on the reading list. This activity happens three times a day, on average.



In other news, the little Magellan has now successfully circumnavigated the room by "cruising" (walking while holding onto furniture for balance). Add this to waving at the bears at the zoo, blowing raspberries with her lips for two-and-a-half uninterrupted minutes, and drumming on empty cans, and we have quite the entertaining ten-month-old peanut on our hands.