Oh Happy Day!!!

Eli had a routine check-up with Dr. Morrissy (the pediatric orthopedic) this morning. Unfortunately for us (fortunately for him), Dr. M is retiring in a few months, so this was our last visit with him. Luckily, there are two other Ponseti-trained doctors at Children's Orthopedics of Atlanta (the only other two in the state, actually), so we will see one of them in the coming years. Eli's feet look "wonderful", according to Dr. M. He sees no sign of relapse, even when he tried to manipulate the feel to go back to the position they originated. We told him we'd been taking the bar off for all of Eli's awake time (about 10 hours/day). He said we can even extend that so Eli just wears the bar at night. Great news, indeed. Although we are not out of the woods yet (some babies/kids relapse once they start to walk and/or reduce the amount of bar time), this was a very encouraging visit. Once Eli starts to walk unassisted, we will go back in so the doctor can watch how his feet move when he walks. After that it will be 6-months/1-year between visits.

I snapped a few pictures of Eli eating his toes on the way home. He's started to do this more and more while in his car seat. Then, when I put him down for a nap (without the bar for the first time), Eli flung his legs all around, surprised by the freedom and lack of weight attached to them. I think he approves of Dr. M's new bar schedule.