2 Months of Helmet Wear

As of yesterday, Santiago has been wearing his helmet for two full months. It's amazing how fast it has gone by and it's amazing that Santi has had it on his head for half of his life now. We have seen drastic changes in his head shape but I think we still have a ways to go. I'm anxious to go see Dr. T at the end of the month to see what he says. We have been going for helmet adjustments twice a week for the last couple of weeks and Aaron, the orthotist, seems to think that we will only need to go once a week now. A baby's head growth starts to slow down after awhile and we may be coming up on that. He thinks Santiago was going through a growth spurt when we were having to go twice a week. He is always willing to see us before our next scheduled appointment if we need to come in before. We are lucky to have such a flexible orthotist to work with. Santiago's head is getting more and more symmetrical all the time and the main area that we are still working on is his right forehead right above the eyebrow. It is still a little flatter than the rest of his forehead and his brow bone still needs to come out a bit. I am hoping that the helmet can accomplish these two things and we won't have to have any more surgeries. Dr. T said another surgery was our worst case scenario last time we visited him. I will ask this again at our next appointment.

I am super glad that this helmet does not seem to be slowing Santiago's development in any way. He can now roll over back to front and when he is on his tummy he can hold him head up very high for a long period of time. The picture above was taken right before Santiago's bath time last night during our "hour off" of helmet time. The helmet weighs 10 ounces but Santi is definitely strong enough to hold it now. He also hits my face with it accidently sometimes! That doesn't feel very good. Hector and I are very anxious for the day that Santiago is free from his helmet because we love seeing him so much without it on. He looks cute with it but he looks even cuter without it on! We also love to feel his hair and head when we are holding him or snuggling with him. Santiago just recently started laying his head down on us when he is tired or when he is hiding from someone or something when he feels a little shy. It's such a nice feeling when he lays his head down. You know he feels safe and loved when he does it. It will be wonderful when we don't have the helmet on anymore for these loving times.

Last night when I was getting Santiago ready for his bath I looked at this diaper bag that my mom made and I thought Santiago looked like he would fit in it so I gave it a try. He loved laying on top of all his clothes inside and was smiling almost the whole time as I took his picture. All the smiley pictures I took though had his legs spread open wide so I chose one where he is all covered up to show you!