BOB

BOB

Bob was born with a club foot.  I was never so surprised in my life because I just assumed that all my children would be born normal. His little leg turned up almost to his chin.  He had a definite club foot. Before he left the hospital he was in a plaster brace. Actually, both legs were because the other one turned in a little.  So that was a challenge to handle because he could be be bathed like the other children. He had to be sponge bathed.

He was a real fussy child.  Even after he had the braces off he had to wear shoes at night that were on a metal bar.  I would put him to bed and I would hear bumpity, bump, bump down the stairs. He somehow threw himself out of that crib and then sat on his fanny and bump down the stairs.  I would just look at my husband and say, “Do you believe this?” He would do that all the time.

Bob was a challenge.  He had delayed speech and a speech impairment.  He went to the Gavras Center for speech therapy.  He yelled a lot, but he had all these brothers and sisters answering for him, anticipating what he wanted.  He didn’t have much to say. His break through word was peacock. After that, his speech kind of fell into place.  It was called delay speech and the Gavras Center did a good job. After that he had to have some surgery on his foot because his toes turned in.  His little leg was very thin, much thinner than the other one. But now he's tall, strong and he was a very good athlete.

-Mom

2005