Smarties- the best bribe

We had another visit this morning to Chase's clinic to try out the next test socket. This one fit much better than the last one and didn't seem to hurt Elias at all. He wasn't too thrilled at first, and we couldn't get him to stand for very long. I found some Smarties in my bag, and wah la!, the mood suddenly turned around. He went across the little room a couple times with the walker and me helping him take steps. All for a little Smartie! It was awesome!

When we got home, the Physical Therapist came for one hour of therapy. Usually Elias uses a little stool to weight bear on while doing activities. But today he did it with the leg instead. The PT and I expected Elias to tolerate it for only about 5 minutes. BUT HE STOOD FOR 45 MINUTES! ON TWO LEGS! After the first 10 minutes or so we didn't have to hold him at all- he just kept his little hand on the table or wall while we kept him busy with fun activities. We put a full-length mirror in front of him so he could see himself. This was a great idea, because for the first time he could actually see his leg. He just stared at himself for the first few seconds, and I think he really realized what was happening. He didn't tire much at all, which means he was really using that prosthetic leg for weight bearing. It was so surreal actually, because it was if he had been standing on that leg all his life. It was so natural for him. This has been our exact prayer, and it was awesome to see God answer it like this!

Feeding Daddy a Smartie














Taking a few steps

Standing at the table

TWO shoes!

Today was the first time that Elias got to stand up on his prosthetic leg. It was so exciting to see him standing on two legs! Chase put Elias' shoe on the foot of his prosthetic leg, and when Chase brought it out, Elias was so surprised to see another Elmo shoe. He gave us this look like, "Where have you been hiding this other Elmo shoe???!" It was his first time to discover that he actually has TWO shoes!

Today was the fitting for the test socket, to see how it fits Elias' residual limb. Chase and the crew drew several marks on the socket and made a few modifications until they were happy with the way it fit his leg. Usually the fitting for the test socket doesn't have all the other prosthetic components, but Chase went ahead and put them all together so that we could see Elias stand up using both legs. It was a great moment! Elias wasn't too happy about it though. I'm sure it was a rather scary experience for him, and it also wasn't very comfortable for him until after they made a few modifications. The Elmo shoe factor did help a bit though. (Thanks, Lulo!)

We brought the leg home with us so that hopefully Elias can make better friends with it over the weekend. We'll have to think of some games to play with the new leg.

This is really an exciting step (pun intended) and makes me look forward to getting the final leg in a week or so- just in time for our trip to Texas for Aunt Lizzy's wedding!

Here are a few pictures of our day:

First time with the leg on

Making muffins with Levi earlier this morning