New Zancos!

Will got his fourth pair of zancos this week.  They are AMAZING!

What makes this pair so special?

1.  They have cool designs!  We decided to let Will choose a design this year now that he is nearly four.  He and I went shopping for fabrics and picked out several he liked (& that I approved of for his legs.)

We took the fabrics to the prosthesist in June & she used them to create cool designs on his legs.

One leg has...

Superman!!!

And the other...

Batman!!!

Very cool!

He asked me to text pictures that morning to one of his best friends, Hudson.  Here is the text of the conversation between Hudson and his mom:

Rachel:  You know how Will wears zancos?

Hudson:  No

Rachel:  You now the special shoes he wears?

Hudson:  Huh?

R:  Look - Will has stickers on his legs!

H:  Oh cool!  I want that!

And then she said to me, "So thanks, now my kid wants a tattoo!"

LOVE that sweet friend - four years and he notices Will - not his zancos!

Perhaps Will is going to be some sort of preschool trendsetter now! :)

Another thing that is cool about this pair?

His first set of ankles!

Which adds to the height - my kid "grew" about 4 inches instantly!

He is very proud of his new height & likes to admire himself...

(Here he is seeing how tall he is next to Mommy now.)

Practicing running for the prosthesist so she can check fit.  This was a little frustrating to him as he hasn't fully adjusted to the legs and is slower than he would like to be.

I have no doubt he'll be speedy again soon.

And the third thing that makes them so cool?!?!

Will has his first "split toe" prosthetics which means he can wear flip flops like his friends!!!

He had been begging to wear flip flops so I asked his prosthesist if we could try split toes this time.  She was hesitant because feet with split toes come with ankles which means more height and also they are more flexible which makes them harder to walk with.  And because Will's has hand differences, she was concerned about him falling.

When we tried them on at his alignment, she was amazed that he didn't fall once.

So, far, since receiving them, still no falls!

I'm sure there will be some falls to come but he is doing great.

And a huge thanks to creative Brenda - Will & Ellie's PT, who attached velcro on the feet to help hold on the flip flops!

Along with his new height, he is acting more and more independent.

He insisted we stay back aways while he purchased his popcorn at the hospital.

(One of the "rules" at Scottish Rite is that it always smell like popcorn - not like a hospital... so they pop popcorn all day long.)

 And then he sat at his own little table to snack on it.

 After Will's appointment, Ellie went to hers...

her feet have gone down to 4's now!  Yahoo for some progress!

 Will happily played with Megan (a volunteer on Will duty) during Ellie's appt.

 And showed off his new zancos

 Brenda is cleaning out some toys in the baby room at the hospital & offered this to Ellie.  She loves it & it helps her bear weight.

 We noticed Will's picture on a big photo montage in the hospital...

Will is pointing up at it

 Clearly my child has been deprived of the great American experience of shopping malls. We went to a mall to go to a shoe store & he kept talking about how amazing it was -he didn't know there would be toy stores and statues and fountains and restaurants and shoe stores.  Very exciting.

So, confession.  I handed my mom the camera at the shoe dept and asked her to take pictures of Will getting new shoes.  

We've always had wonderful experiences buying shoes but usually I crack up (inside) as our salesperson is always a little taken aback when I say I need to buy kid shoes and hand a leg over.  Understandably, we're not the typical customer.  I do think, however, that we are pretty easy - they don't have to deal with a wiggly kid as we just pull off the zancos and hand them over.  And, I know I get at least a full year of wear out of the shoes which is nice.  What's more?  We sometimes buy shoes a little big or a little wide - it's not like they will give him blisters or hurt him... and then I get even more wear out of them.

It's all about the perks.

So, at Nordstrom's (which I highly recommend their shoe dept.  It will be very beneficial for Ellie as they will let you buy kid's shoes and mix sizes - with clubfeet this is common to have different sized feet.)

I hand Michelle a zanco and she was completely unfazed.

In fact, she had all kinds of ideas on how to make various shoes work.

Turns out Michelle has a teenager daughter with hand and feet differences and who wears a prosthetic leg.

She was awesome!

 Sorry blurry pic taken with my iphone...

too funny - we have no idea where he learned this but out of nowhere, he made this pouty face, put his hands on his hips, & started strutting

When Michelle brought out a pair of rain galoshes - BATMAN style- Will was floored.  He said, "No Way!"  

He's been wanting rain boots for awhile but I have never been able to get them on his zancos since I can't bend the feet.  Same problem with fireman boots.

But, Michelle - she could do it!

And so, in the worst drought in Texas recorded history, Will now has rain galoshes.

Which he wears everywhere.

 Ellie loved watching her big brother

Lovie treated us to Will & Ellie's first circus - Barnum & Bailey were in Dallas celebrating their 200th year.

We loved it!

They had superheroes and pirates with swords and acrobats and animals and clowns.

Will was in heaven!

 Ellie was hilarious.  I think she may try to join the circus.  She kept rocking out of my arms & clapping and squealing.  She LOVED the show!

(although she fell asleep and missed the second half but I loved having a sleeping girl in my arms.)

 mesmerized

Thanks, Lovie, for a fun day!