Long overdue update!

Since Jonas got his new brace in April, I've not made time to update you on his progress. The thing is, everything was going like a dream for quite a while!

In May, I'd registered him for the Mini Manchester Run. He walked/ran 1.5 km and raised money for Manchester Royal Children's Hospital. He got his first medal and made us proud.

Over the summer, we enjoyed the hot weather and made the most of those perfect feet:

Bracing as usual for naps and nights (always with style!):

August came and our 6-monthly check-up with our ortho went so so well, I was buzzing for days afterwards! For the very first time, she showed interest in the brace and took me up on my offer to tell her more about it and to show her how Jonas moves with it. For the very first time, she talked about "Jerald Cunningham" not "That guy in the US"!

That's when we decided, after talking to Jerald, that we could stop bracing for naps and see if that disturbed Jonas's sleep. His first reaction was to DEMAND that I put his brace on, then when I said "But Jerald says you don't need it for naps anymore", he answered: "I want to talk to Jerald!!" 😂

After a couple of weeks, he did turn around and told me "I don't need my brace to sleep anymore!" So, we had a chat about talipes and what he'd gone through since birth. I showed him a picture of him in a cast, then his first set of boots and bar and explained that he won't need to brace forever, just a few more months. He's never complained since.

And I promised myself to be brave, once he outgrows this brace, we'll stretch and manage his clubfoot as best as we can without another night-time brace. We'd never needed to worry about it really, so why should I plan for the worst?