He learned so much with that leg! He got really good and standing and walking around the furniture. That leg gave us hope that he would indeed walk someday. (And we loved that Lightening McQueen and Mater were on his leg!)
But, as all kids do, Will kept growing that leg started falling off frequently. It was time for a new one. We took a leap of faith and decided to get a new leg that would only go up to his knee- not his hip like his first leg. We didn't know if he would be able to walk that way, because we didn't know if his knee would be able to support his body weight and be strong enough to maneuver the leg. We figured it was worth trying for- so we went for it. His second leg has baseballs and baseball bats on it (just in time for baseball season- and you know we'll be at lots of games with our other boys!). Here is the video of the first few minutes with his new leg:
We've been doing physical therapy and assisting Will's walking with two different styles of walkers. He's been working hard! Our physical therapist said that he would make a lot more progress once he learned how to stand up on his own- without assistance. That way, when he falls he would be able to get back up and keep trying. We've been working on that for about a month. After our last physical therapy session, I had the idea to get a kids basketball hoop. Will loves to play with balls! I thought that he would want to put a basketball through a hoop- and a basketball is big enough that he would have to use both hands to hold it (he wouldn't be able to hold on to anything else) so when he would bend over to pick up the ball he would have to stand on his own in order to bring the ball high enough to put it through the hoop. We practiced in the front yard, in the back yard, and then in the house- for at least 2 hours the day I got it. It worked!!! When he really started to get the hang of picking up the ball and standing on his own I took this video:
I am one proud and happy mom!
