"Perfect" Feet

In my last photo email, I titled one picture of Maddux's feet, "Perfect Feet and Toes". After giving this title more thought, I realized some might interpret my words to mean Maddux has 'perfect' feet and Eli doesn't. Let me clarify. In no way would I change the way Eli was born. I never thought him anything less than perfect, and certainly not less perfect than his sister. Although it was an initial shock, the journey Eli has made with his feet is one that has shaped him into the great kid he is, and it has shaped Lehr and I into the parents we are. Although I am very happy to dote over little legs and little toes this time around (as Eli was in casts for the first 9 weeks so we didn't get to experience his baths, shoes, socks until much later), I can't imagine Eli without his shoes and bar. Nor could he, as he often reminds us. Recently Eli started using his stuffed Elmo for pretend play. His favorite thing to do with Elmo is hand him to Mommy (or Daddy) and say, "Melmo. Nigh-nigh." This usually happens in his bedroom, so the next logical step in the night-night process for Eli is shoes and sleep-sack. He will hand me Elmo, hand me the sack (as he says, "cape") and then hand me the shoes (as he says, "shoes"). For Eli, night-time equals three things: his blanket, his 'cape', and his shoes. He doesn't know any different. Neither did we.