Pros/Con & Goodbye

I've been smiling the last couple days at a few silly pros of having a toddler amputee...

• Only one set of toenails to clip! And with the world's wiggliest baby who despises having his toenails clipped, this is a HUGE bonus!
• I don't need to match up his socks when putting his clean laundry away. He only needs one at a time (for now) so I just throw them all in his drawer loose. Matching socks is my least favorite part of laundry so this is one person I don't need to worry about it for now. Woo hoo!

As for the con...Most days I rarely dwell, let alone even think about Dylan's situation. It's just become normal life. However, the other day we were eating lunch and I looked over at him and it just struck me hard...he only has one foot! There is only ONE foot hanging out of his pants, kicking like crazy. Not that I haven't noticed that before, but since I hadn't thought about it in awhile, I guess, it kind of shocked me at that particular moment. It made me a little sad for a quick moment.

But then I looked up to see this and I quickly forgot that there is anything "wrong" with my little boy. This doesn't phase him one bit.

IN OTHER NEWS...

We get to say goodbye to this cute, little friend on Tuesday...

The green cast...not Dylan. :) We are SO excited!!

Do you know what this means?

• No more sanding of our toes every time he crawls over our feet, which he tends to love to do (hard cast on naked toes hurts)!
• No more dangerous diaper changes with a heavy, hard cast being swung in every which direction (it's a weapon, I tell ya)!
• No more getting him stuck for a moment in his high chair because we didn't take him out at the exact perfect angle for his 90 degree angled leg to come out easily.
• No more poop leaking out of his diaper only on the leg with the cast, therefore getting poop on the edge of the cast and having to scrub the cast to death to try to get rid of all the poop. (This happened multiple times)
• No more taking a layer of my nail polish off trying to get his cast in and out of his pants. (The cast seriously acts like a great sander)
• No more sounding like he's trying to sand any ground he crawls on that isn't carpeted. (Although, it definitely is easier to find him with the cast on because he can't quietly crawl anywhere)
• He gets to finally straighten his leg! After almost 7 weeks of being in a cast, I can only imagine how happy he will be and how good that will feel!
• With being able to straighten his leg he will hopefully be able to get back to cruising along furniture and with toys. (Assuming his stump isn't too sensitive to bear weight at first)
• And what I, as mom, am most excited about.....NO MORE SPONGE BATHS!!

He actually doesn't mind his sponge baths. He loves sticking his hand in the water and splashing with his one leg. But it is kind of exhausting to do. Especially when I have one kid that I can throw in the tub. It would be so much more convenient to just throw them both in the tub. Instead, I have to sponge bathe Dylan (and lets face it...a sponge bath doesn't get in every nook and cranny like a good tub soaking does), then I take him to the kitchen sink to wash his hair, which he does decent with but definitely likes to put up a little fight. Then I have to bath Kaden. So now our bathing routine takes twice as long as it used to. So I'm looking forward to getting back to our normal bathing routine. Plus, Kaden is lonely in the bathtub all by himself these days. And as much as Dylan doesn't mind his sponge baths, he definitely misses his tub baths. Every time I fill up the tub, he speed crawls to the tub and tries to crawl in. I have a feeling he will thoroughly enjoy his first real bath again.

Actually, Dylan enjoys his sponge baths so much that one day when both boys were non-stop whining/crying and I was going crazy, I knew how much Dylan would love to play in the water like during his sponge baths, so I sat them up at the sink and let them have it...it kept them quiet for a good 20 minutes. (No, the water was not running the whole 20 minutes.) It was heaven. :)

These boys sure are lucky to have each other...in so many ways. And they sure do love each other. Oh trust me, they have their moments of torturing each other like most brothers do...but overall, they are very sweet with each other.

And I just have to end with these pictures. Dylan now knows what the camera is...you know, that thing permanently attached to mommy's eye. And he knows exactly what he is supposed to do when it comes out. This is the face I get whenever I first pull the camera out...a HUGE, CHEESY grin. I LOVE it!

{I don't know why I love a good spaghetti face so much! It's so cute to me!}