The Shoes

Yesterday...the day we have been waiting for for the past 2 months...has come and gone. Yesterday Landon got his 6th cast OFF and the new Ponseti shoes ON. Yesterday was a rough day! Lots of tears shed and sleep lost. As you can see in the pictures below, the shoes have a bar in between them that restrict his feet from moving freely. He can still swing his legs all over but his feet stay stationary....for 3 solid months. When the cast first came off his foot looked swollen. It was much bigger than the other foot and the ankle seemed puffy. His doctor said this is normal and the swelling will go down.. I think it has. Then there was the massive amount of dry skin. Poor guy was super flakey. I kept wiping his leg and adding more lotion. Today the flakes have flaked and it's starting to look more like the other leg. Also today he has not cried this painful cry as much as yesterday. So I think he is figuring out that this shoe has to be his normal for right now. We played like it is in hopes to get him comfortable. I spent some time stretching his legs out so that he could see his leg goes out past the bent angle it's been in for the last 2 months. He can lift the brace up great. During tummy time he did great at moving his legs up underneath him. Sometimes he gets a kick out of tummy time...Other times not so much. But I was impressed with him today. We have also been spending time practicing sitting. It's cute. If you let him grab your fingers while he is lying on his back, he will attempt to pull himself up...with a little help from you, he sits up and kinda looks around checking things out. Then we lay back down for a small rest and sit up again. He loves it.

So, here's to hoping the shoes become the norm for Landon real soon. I hate to see him confused and frustrated with them. It's a love hate relationship with those shoes. We LOVE what they are doing for him and that this method has kept him from needing any pokes or prods, and at the same time we hate to see him have to go through this. We are blessed that it is correcting so well. And here's to hoping these 3 months go by smoothly.