Today Graesen had his casting appointment for his orthotics. They should be ready in a couple of weeks. He did so good with the casting and sat patiently. He got to choose the design he wanted on his orthotics, and of course went with the one that had cars, trucks, and airplanes. He also chose blue foam and red velcro. The therapist who makes the orthotics did confirm that Graesen will definitely need ones that go up over the top of his ankles and work like a brace. She said that at this point he pronates so much that he needs help stabilizing his ankles. He should be able to get shorter orthotics as his tendons strengthen with age. Apparently they were talking about Graesen before his appointment, because he has morton's toe (short big toe joint-he definitely inherited that one from me) which makes his feet a little more complicated.
I am worried about finding shoes that will fit with such big orthotics. I was told that insurance will actually cover one pair, which is nice, but I'm sure we will have quite a search to find shoes that fit right.
I didn't get a chance to talk to the therapist who evaluated Graesen, because she was busy with other things. I did mention to the one doing the castings my concern about the low normal muscle tone diagnosis. She looked at his legs a little and said that he does have low muscle tone, but she isn't too worried, because other than his feet he has no other problems. She said he will likely grow out of it. (This therapy office is a comprehensive therapy office and they help a lot of children who have a variety of developmental and/or physical problems, so I am sure that to them a kid with just a little bit of low muscle tone is no big deal at all). I will definitely talk more to the other therapist when we go back for fittings, since she is the one who watched Graesen run, jump, climb, etc. I want to make sure that if there is anything I can be doing to help Graesen increase his muscle tone that I am doing it. I would love to put him in a sport to help him increase his strength (like gymnastics), but it is so expensive! I checked the YMCA since we are members, but all their tumbling classes are during my work hours :( If the therapist believes it will help Graesen catch up with his peers, then I will just deal with how expensive sports are.
Yesterday we had a fire drill at school. Afterwards we went to the playground and Graesen could not stop worrying/talking about the fire alarm. The kid has a serious phobia of fire alarms.
