Elias is so close to walking now. He takes on average 6-8 steps at a time, but doesn't have quite enough control to just stop and stand still once he starts walking. However, he could stand in one spot for extended periods of time now. Its just when he gets that momentum going, he can't seem to stop. We're still a little head over heels :)
We've really been trying to get him to talk for the past few months, and he just seemed content with "Mama, Baba, and Dada". Seemingly all of the sudden over Christmas break he started trying to say some new words. In the past couple weeks his vocabulary has expanded a little more. Words he says now are:
Go
PopPop (my dad)
Mom
Buh-Bye
Sli (his word for slide)
Shhha (his way of saying shoe)
My perfect little eater has turned into a picky monster. For a while I could get him to eat PB&J, grilled cheese, mac&cheese...the typical toddler meals. Now he'll take one or two bites and be done with it. Chicken nuggets are my backup meal, and yogurt is still always a go. Thankfully he really likes fruit, so I can usually get him to eat a good bit of that in a sitting. Oh, and forget veggies. Oatmeal is hit or miss depending on the day, as well as spaghetti. I really hope this phase doesn't last very long, because I really want him to have a balanced diet, and for sure that is not happening at the moment.
And now for a medical update:
Right before we left for Christmas I took Elias in to see his orthopedist. His braces were getting a little short, especially on his right foot (the one that had the dislocated bone). Dr. Gholve was very happy with how his feet are looking! The concern we always have is that his clubbed foot will regress and lose its range of motion. The possibility of this happening, especially because of the type of clubbed foot he has, is very likely. So every time Dr. Gholve says its looking great, its a sigh of relief. Even with the foot doing as well as it is at the moment, we're pretty sure he'll need atleast one more surgery when hes 2 or 3 to do another tendon release. This will be necessary because while his foot hasn't gotten any worse, without the brace it still turns in some, almost like in someone thats pigeon toed. He also stands on the outside of the foot w/o the brace, so the tenotomy would release the tendon that's pulling up on the inside so that he has more of a chance of walking on a flatter foot. Did that make sense? Its hard to explain without using his foot as a visual.
Dr. Gholve also said he doesn't need the brace anymore for the right foot at all (yaaay!!!). So that foot is pretty much in the clear, praise the Lord. The doctor also recommended that to help combat the tendency of the clubbed foot wanting to turn in, we put him in a Ponsetti brace at bedtime. This is the brace most kids with clubbed feet have. Its basically shoes that have a bar the clips onto the bottom of them. Since the right foot doesn't need anymore correction, that foot is kept at a neutral position. When clipped onto the bar, the left foot is rotated outward, at a 115 degree angle. So basically we're over-rotating it in hopes it will help the foot turn out more before he needs surgery. I waited until after we got back from Christmas to put in on him simply because of how poorly he already sleeps when we're traveling. Now that we're back, its been quite the adventure getting him to wear them to sleep. Its like being strapped to a snowboard. He is so confused when we wakes up in the middle of the night and can't roll over. I've been trying to put them on a little bit before he goes to bed so he can get used to them. Its just so hard for me when he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming because hes so confused and scared. Giving him a binky and turning on his mobile doesn't calm him down like it normally would if he were to wake up. So I end up taking off the bar so that he can fall back to sleep. So bad of me, I know. But if you woke up with your feet tied together, wouldn't you freak out too???
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