We interrupt the previously scheduled blog....

I was planning to blog part 3 of my CP series tonight, until Seth gave me something far more exciting to blog about.  :) 

Right after Christmas, Seth's therapist at Shriners started him in a gait trainer.  To say he was not a fan is putting it mildly. 

He sort of hated it.  He sort of yelled and screamed the entire time.  But after one month of Shelley patiently nudging it down the hall while he took steps, he learned to self propel it.  And we were all amazed, because that's incredibly quick for learning a gait trainer.  He has PT at Shriners once a week and so this is the only time he gets to practice.  That was a miracle! For the next two sessions, he self propelled it around the top floor at Shriners, all by himself, and he got better and better. 

Gait trainers are designed for support as a child learns to take steps and walk.  It "trains" a child to take correct steps with correct posture.  A child will start out with full support- wrists, ankles, chest harness and a seat.  If you look closely at the picture above, you can see all these support.  Slowly, as a child gets stronger and more confident, you take away supports until they are able to stand, bearing weight, and taking steps.  Then, you move them to a walker.  So a gait trainer is a pre requisite to a walker. Last week, Seth was using every support except the wrist supports.  When he started self propelling it, we ordered a gait trainer for home, anticipating him using it for a year or more.  We are still waiting for it to come in. 

Today, we had our weekly therapy appointment with Shelley.  We put him in the gait trainer and buckled the chest harness.  As Shelley got on her knees to bucket his seat and ankles, Seth started moving forward.  Shelley and I looked at each other, jaws dropped.  But we stood back to see what would happen.  Seth held himself upright, bearing his weight, taking step after step, moving towards the door, as I stood there and cried.  He was doing it!!  When he started to slip, he'd adjust and pull himself up.  Shelley grabbed a walker off the shelf and we followed Seth out the door.

We decided to try him in a walker to see what would happen.  This is what happened...

Seth walked down the hall, turned the corner and walked halfway down another hall.  All. By. Himself.

We've cancelled the gait trainer.  :) 

Four months ago, we arrived home with a boy barely strong enough to crawl. 

(Seth, in the airport in Kiev, about to fly home.)

 Today, he's walking independently with a walker. 

Miracles still happen.  He's our miracle.