Oh, and the orthotist

We did actually make it to the orthotist appointment on time, and Matthew got his new shoes. These shoes feel much softer than his old ones, but what I heard about how much lighter they are doesn't seem to be true. No biggie, Matthew was used to the weight of his others and these aren't much heavier. They tried the shoes & bar on him and he wanted to walk in them (usually when we go shoe shopping we want to see him walk in them) but the girl wouldn't let him try. Well, he did walk around a little in the shoes without the bar attached. The snap-on/off bar is the best thing about these shoes since they will make things much easier in the mornings. With his old shoes/bar we had to be particular about putting him in pajamas with snaps in the legs or it was very hard to change his diaper in the morning. We still used "pants" pjs, but if he happened to have a big poop, it was very hard to change him without taking his shoes off. And I like to leave them on until after breakfast, so it was aggravating.

They checked that everything was ok and made some adjustments, then wanted to take them off and he really wanted them on. I was ok with him wearing them home, but the girl there was pretty insistent. Fortunately he didn't have a fit (like he does with me!) when she took them off. Last night getting ready for bed he was excited to wear his new shoes. He told us he wanted to walk in them so we let him try. These are lower to the ground than his others, just the way the bar is, and he was able to walk across the room. He was proud of that accomplishment, and of course we were too!

This morning it just so happened he had wet so much it leaked out of his diaper, so I took his pj's off and decided to put some pants on him. I just snapped the bar off, pulled the pans on, and snapped it back on. He didn't want me to take the shoes off today either...he left them on for a couple of hours after breakfast and fussed when I took them off! Here's a pic I snapped this morning with his new shoes on: