Close only counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades!

So on a rainy Friday in Toronto, we set out again to the Hospital for Sick Children for our 3 month follow up visit at the Plagiocephaly clinic.

Ella was so excited she could barely contain herself!

She was so excited, in fact, she had her dancin' feet on and danced her way down the complicated hallway system of the hospital to the clinic.

When we got to the clinic, and checked in for our appointment, we noticed that there was some new artwork that hadn't been there the last time we had our appointment. Apparently, there is an artist who paints pictures for all of the clinics across the hospital. And the Centre for Orthotics had their own pictures done in the last month. How awesome are these??

Ella thought these pictures were wonderful!

"Hey! These pictures are pretty good!"

After a few minutes, we were called back to the fitting room. Ella and I got comfy while we waited for our orthotist.

Unfortunately, when our orthotist walked in the room. Ella took one look at him, and screamed her head off. She then promptly continued this screaming through the whole appointment. :( Oh, Ella! He's not going to hurt you! He just wants to fix your melon!

"I still don't like it, Mama!"

Bringing out the measuring tape created even more theatrics.

"Oh, God! Measuring tape?! I hate this even more then gentle head touching!"

At this point our orthotist says "Hey! Her head is looking really good. She's made huge improvements since her last appointment. She might just be done with the helmet."

Like anyone trying not to get their hopes up, my hopes FLEW through the roof! We could be done...RIGHT NOW?! BOOYAH! OMG those are the happiest words a helmeted mum can ever hear. All we had to do was to check out the sock head pic and see if her head had improved enough to be finished with the helmet.

Unfortunately, this is always the most dreaded part of the whole appointment: The Sock Heading. You might remember previous sock heads from May...

June...

and July 2012.

This month was no different. At least her face fit through the hole this time?

Our orthotist left to make some comparison pics and I picked up Ella to calm her down. After a few cuddles from Mama, Ella was back to her sunny self.

"I'm okay now, Mama! BUT NO MORE SOCKS!"

Steve and I were holding our breath. How amazing would it be if we were done?? No more sweaty baby heads, kissing a mouthful of helmet, and wrestling her into the helmet as she crawled away at the speed of light.

This is what we saw this month:

May 14, 2012

August 10, 2012

And an overall view of the last 3 months (Thanks Rachel for the collage!):

Unfortunately, we are not quite there yet. We are *so close* to being done, we can taste it! Our orthotist estimates one more month, and then we are done FOR GOOD. While it's disappointing that we are not done yet, I can handle four more weeks, right? 

"Don't worry, Mama! We can do one more month! We are almost there! When I shave my head when I'm 18, I will thank you, and you will wonder why you ever spent all this time and effort making my head round!"

Sigh. Onto month 4. Which will (hopefully) be our last month on this helmet adventure. Stay tuned!

Flat Heads from the land Down Under!

So Ella and I have been busy busy busy the past week or so. This girl is GO GO GO from the minute she wakes up until the moment she conks out for the night (temporarily, before she decides being AWAKE is more exciting than being ASLEEP, and decides to start dancing around her crib). In the last few weeks she has gone from being fairly mobile to being MOBILE with a capital M. I can't keep up with this kid! I have set up the pack and play as a holding cell in the living room so I can go to the bathroom without worrying about finding Ella into some mischief.

So long, Mama! I'm off for now! Try and catch me!

Monkey Man and I are off on an adventure! I found a BOX!

This shoe is TASTY mama!

 Don't worry about me! I'll just walk around here, okay?

 I LOVE SWINGING! I LOVE LIFFEEE!!!

 I'll just eat this random water bottle I found on the floor of the Early Years Centre, okay Mama?

 Out of the way, Mama! The dog and I are sharing a secret.

I WON'T NAP MAMA! I'd rather SING and DANCE! And you can't stop me!

Ohhhh, I'm exhausted just typing all of that out. Sigh. Anyway! I have been lucky enough to be contacted by another Mum, this time from Australia. How awesome is that?! Interestingly enough, helmets in Australia AGAIN are different from not only our Canadian helmets, but the American ones as well.

So for our Helmet Recap!

Canadian Motorcyle Helmets:

 American Storm Trooper Style:

Now if you add Helmet One + Helmet Two you will end up with Helmet 3!

Caitlyn's STAR band! STAR band stands for Symmetry Through Active Remolding. This helmet looks like a combination of both the Clarren Canadian Helmet, and the American DOC band. This band works similarly to the Clarren Helmet, in the way that it provides contact over the bulgy areas of the baby's head and allows space in the flat spots. Eventually, like the Clarrens, the baby's head will grow into the perfect shape of the helmet, and the flat spots will fill in.

Caitlyn's Mummy, Tegan, wrote to me from the land down under to share her story of Caitlyn and her helmet. When Caitlyn was still in utero, there was a lack of amniotic fluid. This caused Caitlyn's accommodations to become slightly cramped and Caitlyn was born with clubfoot and minor torticollis (like Ella). At Caitlyn's two month appointment, Tegan brought up the flat spot to her GP, however thought it would likely get better with positioning and time. Unfortunately, that was not the case and Caitlyn ended up being fitted for her helmet at 5 months old.

Caitlyn was a real trooper when she was fitted for her helmet. In Australia, they used the plaster mold technique as well. Apparently Caitlyn enjoyed the process, and found the warm plaster so soothing, she fell asleep! 

(If you recall these pictures, Ella did not find the same enjoyment from the warm plaster mold).

From there, Tegan was allowed to choose the pattern for the helmet. How lovely! This is the only company I have seen so far that actually allows you to choose a colour or pattern! Get with the times other companies! Colours rock! You want to be able to accessorize your helmet.

Caitlyn has been adjusting well, and is back to her usual activities such as:

Exersaucering!

Rollin' with her homies!

Napping!

And apparently playing with her big brother William, who to his mother's horror found him banging on Caitlyn's helmet. When questioned he stated: "I not hitting mummy, I fixing her helmet!" Luckily, he has learnt to help fix her helmet "gently" and is being a wonderful big brother to Caitlyn.

Thanks so much to Tegan and her lovely family for being this week's guest on Molding a Melon. :) Oh, and she just started a blog as well. Check it out at:

http://caitlynsplagiocephalyblog.blogspot.com.au/