My how we've grown.

When Roman got his first set of braces, we were thrilled. They were his first piece of "equipment" He wore them wherever we went and all through the night. As babies tend to do though, he grew out of them very quickly. 

I still remember how my heart felt when I would hear the sound of them scraping on the kitchen floor. The sound of scraping braces meant there was a little boy crawling. CRAWLING! There was no sneaking away, no getting into what he shouldn't. His first set of braces are as special to us as his first pair of shoes, his first haircut or the precious handmade clothes that were knitted just for him. They were made exclusively for Roman, fitted especially for him and awesome-ized with the addition of sweet yellow straps and some happy little dinos. The era of the dino party braces are over, but I remember it like yesterday. 

(Dino Party-Retired)

Roman's second set of braces lasted us the longest, thus far. I started off a little excited about these ones. They were a little bigger and sported an underwater theme. Everybody knows that an underwater theme is for big boys, while a dino party theme is reserved for the baby brace wearers. 

Near the end of their employment, the deep sea braces started to annoy me. It's a barbaric comparison, but I equate these braces to your child's first poopy..and I'm taking a page from Mr. Bill Cosby on this one.

Your child's first poopy is ADORABLE. Dino Party....adorable. The next few are...okay...and then soon you're plugging your nose and saying, "This is disgusting!" Under the sea braces: Doody with odor. 

I love the braces. I love what they stand for, I love what they've helped. However, we've had them longer then we should, they have too many miles on them. I'm happy to say goodbye to them. 

           Darlin’, it’s better down where it’s wetter, take it from me!
(Retired....thankfully!)

Our third set.....ohhh our third set. These "big boy" braces treated us VERY badly in the beginning. The orthotist, the physical therapist, the orthopedic surgeon and the mother all had differing opinions about them. Where one person said they were absolutely needed the other said they were not. While one person said it would be harmful to wear them, another said it would be harmful not to wear them. In the end, it wasn't a decision dictated by the doctor, the maker, the helper or the mother...it was decided by the wearer...and he said heck no.
We tried with all of our might to get Roman to wear them, to play with them, to even think about them, he was not interested in them. The big boy braces didn't come with fun colors or a fun cartoon. They weren't chocolate covered and didn't make cool noises. They didn't light up, sparkle or beep. They were white, with white velcro. They locked at the knee with a shiny metal lock and wrapped around the thigh with a big white cuff. If you've ever watched Forest Gump, you know the braces in which I speak.
After exhausting all efforts to get Roman to wear them, I finally gave in and assembled a new team of thinkers. We decided to try and have them modified. The plan was to take the scary metal lock and the annoying thigh cuff off. Hopefully it could be done without needing to be recasted and without needing to go through the horrible insurance crap. In my house, we HATE insurance crap.
When the big day came, the orthotist frowned. "These doctors think we can just modify anything, anyway, anytime!"

"swear word in my head"
Oh, but wait...he had an idea...he found an easy answer. Ten minutes after he said, "I'll be right back" he said, "let's try these" And they fit.
And Roman loves them.
And they fit!!
...and ROMAN LOVES THEM!

Boring white braces. 

(Status: Active!)

I love talking about the milestones and how he's grown. Because it's not just him, it's all of us. Isabelle is still doing her "leg strengthening exercises" with him. But this time she's doing it with a better understanding of why we do them. I truly believe she is or will be as passionate about Spina Bifida as I am. I love that she gets just as excited as me when we talk about things like braces, walking and getting some time in on the walker. She isn't just his best friend, she's the best PT we could have ever asked for, and she takes payment in the form of chocolate chip cookies! 

Roman has grown too. He loves wearing his new braces, he loves going to physical therapy and he absolutely loves walking in his walker. How did we get so lucky? 

Oh look, so nice and tidy....

I put my head down to weep momentarily for braces of Roman past and looked up to welcome braces of Roman present and this....this is what I found....

Sullivan has grown too.

 He dashed over to show me how good at eating old braces he was.

 A+ buddy!