Free the Piggies Hour (Tobias's Journey)

Since Tobias has to wear braces and a bar for 23 hours a day, we look forward to his "free the piggies hour".  During this time his father and I have a list of things we need to do.  We work with him on some physical therapy for his legs and feet, as well as, stretches to keep his feet flexible.  We use a peanut ball to help him sit up and work on strengthening his core.  One side affect of Moebius Syndrome is a weak upper body, so he is working extra hard on sitting up. 

We also take this time to introduce some new textures to his feet.  He likes to have his feet tickled and touched by soft blankets, a textured cutting board and other things we have laying around the house.  But nothing beats when water touches his feet.  His favorite part of that hour is bath time.  To say Tobias loves taking baths is an understatement!  When all of that is done, we use the rest of that hour to cuddle him as much as possible. 

The current pediatric orthopedic doctor we are seeing wants him to have an hour free time until he starts walking.  In a couple weeks, we are taking him to Phoenix to get a second opinion on that.  We are hoping this new doctor will agree to the Ponseti Method, which is when the clubbed foot child is weaned off and goes from wearing the brace and bar 23 hours a day, to 18, 16, 14 and 12 hours a day over the next few months.  So fingers crossed our little man gets more time to free his little piggies in the near future.