And they're OFF...

Vaiden learned to walk at 101/2 months old. From early on he occasionally walked around on his toes. When he was barefoot or excited, he was always on his toes. I asked his pediatrician about it and she said that alot of children do this as "play". She told me not to worry. When Vaiden had his 3 year old check up, I asked about him walking on his toes again and at this point she felt like we should get a second opinion from a pediatric orthopedic. Dr. Purvis is awesome and he was unsure that Vaiden was "just playing". He felt like it was more of a habit. He was also a little concerned that his Achilles tendons were tight. His suggestion was to wear casts on both legs to break this habit. They say that any habit can be broken in 3 weeks, so we got the casts. Vaiden got to choose the color~yellow~his favorite. The yellow also glowed in the dark, even better!! I was so worried about how he would feel having the casts, so we had a "CAST" party. My mom, Katharine, my Grandparents, Michael and myself, were all at the "party" at Newk's that same day. My mom and Katharine had him balloons and a cake. Everyone brought a gift and signed his casts. He was so excited about the gifts and balloons, but he couldn't figure out whose birthday it was!! (All of his friends came by the house at some point in those 3 weeks and signed Vaiden's casts too~too sweet!!)

(The only posed picture of Vaiden with his casts on!! My sister took this the first day~thanks KK!!)
(Vaiden getting his casts on~at one point getting them he said, "Momma, I can't move my foot"!!)

I was a little upset with the idea of casts. It was the start of summer and he had just learned to swim and the fact that we were in the middle of moving, and I had a newborn to take care of too. Well, Vaiden didn't mind the casts much. He played like everyone else did, but just a little slower. He even played in the mud with Kroger bags over both casts!! He loved it!!

At the end of 3 weeks, we were both ready to have the casts off. When they took them off, they stunk soooo bad!! There was grass, dirt, and even a dead ladybug inside. The bad news was that the casts didn't work as expected. So we took the next step~braces. Again, he got to choose the color and this time he chose camouflage!! Three bad things about these braces: 1) Very, very expensive 2) He had to wear them for 3 months 3) Vaiden could take the braces off himself. I was afraid he wouldn't wear them like he should, but he did great. He wore them 24/7 for 2 1/2 months, then the last 1/2 month I slacked off and let him play outside without them. I could tell the braces were working and he wasn't on his toes that much anymore.

(Here with his braces on!!)

(The camo braces)

Vaiden had his follow up appointment with Dr. Purvis on Tuesday of this week. Vaiden had improved so much with his walking!! Dr. Purvis said that we could just wear the braces at night and some during the day, if we could. The only problem is that Vaiden's foot has grown in these past 3 months and the braces are just about too small for him to wear with a shoe. Vaiden is still a growing boy, you know!! The good news came that Vaiden could no longer wear the braces and my mom bought him a new pair of shoes. (My mom has bought every shoe Vaiden has had on his foot!!) Thanks Sittie!! The New Balance shoe size of my 3 1/2 year old is a size 1. When will he slow down??