Tuesday... only 3 more days...

Daniel worked really hard in therapy this morning. He had his first ever go on the treadmill! He was pretty nervous - I think the floor moving under your feet when you can barely walk is a bit scary. He was quite bent over, and Jackie was helping him move his feet (and of course the treadmill was going very, very slowly) but he got the idea and improved a tiny bit with every try. A treadmill is one of the pieces of equipment we will need to get for home. It is very valuable for children learning to walk because it keeps forcing them to put one foot in front of the other in rhythm, rather than doing a few steps and stopping.

He had a little sit on the bench with his feet hanging down and had to work hard to balance, but he managed it. We hope that before too long he will be able to manage sitting on a 'normal chair' rather than always needing to be strapped into a supportive chair.

He also did a lot of bowling at skittles. Firstly sitting on a roll (good for trunk strength because it wobbles under him so he has to work hard to balance).....

Then he had to do it balanced on his tummy over the roll and while bearing his weight through his  arms.....

....and finally while high kneeling....

He finished with showing off his walking to Jackie, since he has improved rather a lot since she last saw him on Thursday!

After therapy we went straight on to the Planetarium, which is part of the Science Centre, although we hadn't made it there in our previous visits. It was so quiet that we actually had a private viewing the in the huge dome, where we lay on mats on the floor looking up at the ceiling, and the children were fascinated. They also loved the lift up there, where they could play with all the switches etc and pretend they were blasting off into space in a rocket.

Once back at the apartment we had a rest and some playing time, before doing Daniel's exercises. Brooke then came to pick up Daniel so they could walk downstairs together for tea! They were both thrilled with themselves, and it was good for Daniel to be able to venture further that the corridor in his walker, including negotiating the elevator. They made it all the way to the Christmas tree in Reception.

We have only two therapy sessions left, and are determined to squeeze as much progress as we can in that time, before we set off home on Friday.