Milestones

This was a very important weekend.  This milestone was not for Hip Chick, but for her great-grandfather, as it was his 90th birthday.  Extended family gathered at a beautiful Italian restaurant fitting to honor any patriarch. 

Hip Chick was in a bubbly mood, partially due to a little help from a well-timed Shirley Temple near her usual bedtime.  She was taken by a guitarist, who was smartly placed between our room and the main dining area.  She charmed grandparents and parents alike to help her walk to him, again and again.  She held our fingers to balance as she swayed and rocked.  She could not move her feet to the melodies, but exclaimed to all who would listen that she was "dancing."  She inherited both Mommy and Daddy's love for music and it inspires her so!  

No celebration is complete without a grand dessert.  An enormous Italian creme cake delighted young and old alike- not to exclude Big Sis or Hip Chick.  Hip Chick approached her slice with wreckless abandon: two spoons (one in each hand) dove into nut, fruit, and coconutty goodness until her place setting was flocked with piles of crumbs indicative of an unabashed cake massacre.

While neither Hip Chick nor hip dysplasia were the night's focus, the topic arose for brief moments and Mommy may have noticed a few conflicted glances thrown Hip Chick's way.  Mommy was encouraged to hear that a cousin had her younger child checked more closely for DDH (xrays included) because of Hip Chick's diagnosis.  As mentioned in prior posts, there is a theory that it is of genetic origin, but we do not know which side of Hip Chick's genetic composition this originates from if that is the case.  No signs found (happy news), but if just one child gains an early diagnosis due to Hip Chick's story, then her journey is not in vain.

There was a lot of love in that room last night.  It was good to gather with loved ones and celebrate such a momentous milestone.  And many more.

This morning, we rediscovered Big Sister's old doctor kit.  Hip Chick has been talking about "check ups" with increasing frequency these days and her eyes flickered with excitement when she saw the case's contents.  She spent considerable time role playing with Mommy and Daddy, listening to our heartbeats and checking our eyes.  

Some of her interest may be natural toddler curiosity or drawn from the Doc McStuffins cartoon.  One cannot help but expect that six months of robust medical attention would impact her imagination or that more of it will somehow affect her early childhood development.  It is far too early, however, to suppose exactly how.