Freedom Eve?

Remember Remember the 5th of November.....

Tomorrow we have our 6-month follow up appointment at Gillette. Our daughter is just over two years old. I know the average correction time of clubbed feet is 2-4 years. Our son was the same age and we were surprised to go to the appointment to learn we were all done! No more braces! Just follow up appointments for a few years and then maybe some checks when he gets to adolescents with some growth spurts.

Now I have an expectation that tomorrow's appointment will go the same way... and I don't think I'm mentally prepared to hear "6 more months". Mostly because of he says that... what's to say it won't be 2 more years and I'm only halfway? I can't think of any reason why she wouldn't be done... her feet look super over corrected (which is how they are supposed to look). She's been walking for about three months now and has really started to meet more of her peer groups milestones. It was like a dam broke and now she's catching up!

The only real difference between my two kids is size, my daughter is considerably smaller than my son was at the same age. Two years old - Size 2-3 shoes, barely 20 pounds, and 30 inches tall. My son was all that at 12-15 months old! And we thought HE was small! Ha!

I am very grateful that of all the complications that can happen that clubbed feet is what we ended up with. I know there are much more difficult diagnosis and life-long challenges that can come from a birth defect. Clubbed feet are very correctable and not too invasive if you end up with mild forms like we have. No surgeries between the two kids and so far (knock on wood) no relapse with my son. He is now 4 years old and has been brace free for over 2 years. If he tells us 6-more months tomorrow I will of course comply and continue the treatment. Being consistent and constant with the braces is what finishes the job.

So for now I am resisting the purchase of nice warm fleece footed pj's and just keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow starts a new brace-free chapter in our lives.

19 Months & Counting

It's been six months since our last appointment with Gillette. Lena got a big thumbs up from her doctor and we were told to keep everything the same. We have another appointment in 6 months for her. So, we're still at wearing braces for nap and night time (approximately 15 hours a day). She did move up two sizes - from a Double Zero to a One. In November we will also have Emerson's yearly follow up appointment. He's been brace free since September 2010.

She will be 19 months old this weekend and is meeting most milestones with her peers. Walking is still a few months off, but we're not worried. Her doctor said he'd put money down on her figuring it out in the next 60-90 days. She does cruise along furniture, but has yet to make that next move of letting go. She did stand up once in the middle of the floor without assistance, but since I didn't see it happen (my husband did) -- I'm going to say that doesn't count. Mama's gotta see it!

She began the evaluation process for Early Childhood Special Education. So far we qualify for physical therapist to come to the house and help with her walking. They'll be back again on Friday to do additional testing to see if she qualifies for anything else. Big brother Emerson went through the same program and qualified for all kinds of great help. He is still in the program in a pre-school setting twice a week, and next year it will go up to three times a week.

She is really good at climbing things now. She can make her way up onto kitchen chairs, but she hasn't quite figured out the couches yet. We recently purchased a slide and swingset for the kids, and she is very happy climbing up onto the platform for the slide.

Lately she has been very resistant to nail trimming. I don't know if this is something all clubbed foot kids have or just something for my children... but they both have some pretty funky nails. Emerson has what I call "double nails" on two of his fingers. It's like one on top of another, only the top one is really thin. Lena's bow outward like little bowls. Both of their toe nails are just bazaar. They are hard enough to trim if she did lay still, but now that she's fighting me it's even harder. Eh well, atleast they grow slowly.

Mundane Crabby Mama

I've been in a real bad mood lately when it comes to braces. Putting them on and taking them off multiple times a day to keep with our "nap and night time" wearing schedule is doing a number on me. It's been almost three and a half years of doing this between the two kids. I know some folks have to do it that long just with one kid, and I'm certainly grateful I don't have TWO kids in braces... but man... isn't she done yet? I know, I'm a whiner. Schedule wise I'm the only parent around during nap times (except for the weekend), but at night we've been trying to re-arrange things so my husband is doing the braces to give me a little mental break from it all.

Picture for no reason other than they are cute

Developmental wise she is a crawling machine and will pull to a stand while holding on to furniture. She hasn't shown much interest in letting go to stand solo or walk, and I'm starting to wonder if she will take a little longer to walk than her big brother did (17 months 3 weeks.) Why walk when crawling is so much fun, right? Plus her feet are way smaller than big brothers were and we wonder if they would even be big enough to really support her weight for walking. Doesn't really matter either way, we know she'll walk when she's ready.

Random side note, one of the straps on her sandal is starting to break tonight so we will have to make an unscheduled stop at Gillette. Her next appointment with the doctor isn't until April and there is no way that strap is even going to make it through the next week. It's the most important middle strap too.... I hope they can get us in soon!