Kids - who can figure?

I have borrowed a little walk behind toy from a
friend, at the request of Ralph's PT. Ralph will pull himself up and stand behind it. He will push it, too, but his feet stay planted! The cart rolls and he ends up falling on his face!

I then borrowed another walk behind toy, at the request of Ralph's PT. This one looks like a truck and has three sides, so it is very stable. He will pull himself up and stand holding on to one side. He will not, however, push it on his own. When I try to help him, he just sits down!

Sunday, while I was working on supper, Ralph made his way into the dining room. He say next to a chair and grabbed it. He pushed and pulled on it, sliding it on the floor like he always does. Then - he apparently pulled himself up. I'm not really paying attention because I'm cooking, right?

Suddenly I'm aware that I can hear the chair sliding across the dining room floor. I look and see that he is still standing - and PUSHING THE CHAIR!!! Really TAKING STEPS!!!

I would have tried this months ago, but I tend to think inside the box. Ralph does not.

Wordless Wed. & Special Exposure

I really enjoy watching Ralphie work with stacking blocks or stacking and nesting cups. He is very persistent and has a great attention span! He will work like this for 30 minutes, no kidding! Do you think all the fish oil I give this kid is helping?

We tried a shape sorter at a therapy appointment on Monday and did great. Now we need to buy one to keep at home.

Wordless Wednesday

Do I really have learn to walk?

Water day.

Today was water therapy day for Ralph. The local YMCA donates the pool and lifeguard time to the Rainbows kids twice a month. Isn't that nice of them? There were about 30 kids there today, plus parents and siblings. I always feel good around these people. Even in my bathing suit! There is a sort of unspoken understanding between parents of special needs children.

The therapists split us up into two groups. First Ralph worked with his therapist one-on-one with walking in the water. I hold his hands and the therapist moves his legs under the water as we all say "step, step, step..." He doesn't get that he needs to bend his knees to take a step. I worked with him by myself for a bit. He really did great taking some robot-like steps on his own. Imagine walking with your knees locked and you'll know what I mean.

The groups switched and we went to work with our group along the wall of the pool. First, front and back swishes...swishing our children back and forth in the water as we walk across the pool. Quick swishes for children with low muscle tone and slow ones for children with high muscle tone. Then front and back kicks. I lay Ralph face down on one of my shoulders while I hold his legs. I help him kick as we walk across the pool. Back kicks were a challenge as Ralph just wanted to lay back on my shoulder and grab his feet!

We also did sitting dives and jumping off the side and pushing off the side. We wrapped up the session with both groups in a big circle. We sang some songs like Itsy-Bity Spider and Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear. Ralph liked this part a lot best, I think. We worked on walking a bit more before we dried off. What a fun morning!