Or at least you think it would be. You would think that after all of those years in her brace or in an AFO I would be well prepared for a new DAFO. The orthotics company ordered us fancy $30 a pair socks that she hated so I found myself the day after Sporty got her new DAFO staring at the sock aisle at Target because she wanted “thicker” socks, whatever that means! Confused like I felt 10 years ago when o was trying to find the right sock for her brace. See the right sock is the difference between blisters and discomfort and not wearing the brace and wearing the brace all night and getting progress. I came home with $70 worth of tube socks, all of which have been open and 50% have been tossed aside and deemed too thin, not tall enough, too cute to wear with a DAFO (the unicorn ones).

And then there was the adjustment period. I thought she would just adapt right to them. I thought it would be like riding a bike, especially because she’d been asking for her DAFOs for days, complaining she felt tight and needed a good stretch. But there were nights of tears. And I wanted to be weak, just like 10 years ago when she first started her brace as a baby and wailed in frustration. But just like I did a decade ago, I reminded myself this was for her own good. So I stayed tough, gave her Advil and made her wear them. And now, nearly a week later, she’s used to them. She even brought them to school to show her classmates and when her foot was tight during Benchmark testing, she put it on. Only Sporty would volunteer to wear her DAFO during the day when Dr Fluffy Unicorn said she didn’t need to.

So here we are in nighttime brace wear {again}, hoping we get more mobility so that we can avoid another surgery. Fingers crossed peeps!