Lauren and Alison's first day with their new PT

This picture is very exciting to see!!! Lauren is in her gait trainer which is bungy corded to a treadmill so she can get the feeling of taking steps. Her PT, Kara, was very pleased with her being able to take a few steps. She holds her ankle and bends her leg and pulls it toward Lauren's back and Lauren's reflex carries her leg forward to take a step. Kara said that with practice her reflex can train her brain to learn to take steps. We then worked on combat crawling, Kara was very optimistic when she saw Lauren's ability to push herself off of my hand on the floor to move forward. After she saw her combat crawl assisted by me, she said she definitely thought Lauren will eventually learn to walk in her gait trainer. We had some great gifts given to us by the therapists this week, they let us have a "tumble form" chair that will allow Lauren to sit supported on the floor so she can play with us and her sisters. Then today we were told that someone had donated an almost new "Rifton chair" and they want Lauren to have it. This chair has a lot of support for her head and back control and it is on wheels so she will be able to eat and play in it. Both of these chairs are very expensive and we feel very thankful that Lauren has been given them, the tumble form (basically a piece of molded foam) runs about $300 and the rifton chair about $900.

And here we have little Alison learning to transfer her weight from foot to foot and turn around. She did it, and she also squatted down to pop a bubble and stood back up! These two things she learned to do today, Kara said she is a very quick learner. She tends to get frustrated and cry but then calms herself to try again, and bubbles always help (she must have gotten this from Grandma Marla!). Unlike her sister she does not need any special equipment, so at least we won't need two of everything.

Here is our other blond haired blue eyed beauty. Say goodbye to her long locks as she wants her hair cut short, so this Tuesday it will be cut to her shoulders. This is actually a good thing for Mom, since I am the one who has to torture her with a comb everyday.