New braces

On Wednesday, Jan. 14, we took Trent to the doctor and had his last set of casts cut off. They fit him with special shoes and the bar that goes between them. The length of the bar is set to the width of his shoulders. There is a clip on each of the shoes where the bar clips in, so you can put on the shoes first and then put in the bar. Trent will need to wear the brace full time for the next three months. After that he will only need to wear them when he goes to sleep at night.

He seems to be ok with the braces. He can't get around quite as well as before, but he should be moving around even better after he get use to them. He can only be out of them for an hour at most each day. Tonight we gave him a bath for the first time in a long while. (He had been getting sponge baths and hair washes.) He had lots of fun in the tub splashing around. It was especially good to clean off his legs and feet which had gotten just a little cleaning between casts.

We also took him to a speech doctor, but we didn't learn anything we didn't already know. He is just developmentally delayed so it will take awhile for him to talk. We just need to keep doing what we have been, reading and talking to him.