Catching Up

Wow, it's been a while since I last blogged! 8 months! It's been a busy time with lots of crazy family-goings-on, Warrington Wolves winning *another* Challenge Cup and a break-in, not to mention our little Bee turning 4 years old! It's strange how all of a sudden she seems so grown up, like it's happened all at once. Now we have a proper little girl with a personality and sense of humor, who likes to tell us "now" when she wants something and has started choosing her clothes for the day; a right little madam!

We've seen many changes in Bee in the last 8 months, across the board. Her development is progressing well and we think a huge part of that is increasing from two afternoons at nursery per week to five mornings. 

Her learning and cognition has improved vastly and we think her understanding educationally has really come along. Although she's not quite at an age-appropriate level (her speech therapist approximates 3 & 1/2) we know she understands a lot of colours and the numbers 1-10, a big achievement.

Speech-wise Bee now has a vocabulary of over 90 words and is gaining more by the week. Many of her words are just syllable sounds and can sound the same but she understands and attempts them. She recently said 'guitar', which her daddy was especially thrilled about!
We saw the cleft palate team at Alder Hey again in December but unfortunately she still hasn't got enough clear speech to make a decision on her submucosal cleft repair. It's not something we'd even consider unless the surgeon could guarantee us that it would benefit Bee.

 Since Bee became mobile and left her walker behind there's been no stopping her. Although she still tires fairly easily, she chooses to walk in most situations. She can even navigate curbs with a little support! She's a little unsteady on gravel or uneven surfaces but her strength improves every day.

We had concerns recently about Bee's feet turning out when she walks and the way she dragged her left foot when she became tired. We know hypotonia is still an issue for Bee so I booked another appointment with the physio to see if it's anything we should be concerned about. Now, five weeks later Bee has a lovely pink pair of Piedro orthopaedic boots which we're slowly noticing is having a beneficial effect, she's much sturdier and we've not noticed any dragging of her feet.

Bee still likes her routines and can be upset if things are different than what she's used to but she seems to be needing rigid structure much less than she did at a younger age. I've always felt that Bee used structure and familiar things to feel secure when she's lacking in confidence. As she grows so does her confidence and she seems to not need the refuge of routine as much.
Similar can be said of her fear of texture. No more does she panic when on grass and we've even witnessed her playing in a sandbox! Major progress! We feel nursery have been a massive part of this change in Bee, her confidence has soared since being there.
The biggest example of this was before Christmas at a local garden center. We'd gone for a meal & a browse and I noticed they had a table set up for facepainting. Now, we've tried this before. It was an absolute no-no. Not only does it involve someone touching Bee's face, it's them touching her with something cold and wet. She freaked. So consequently I didn't have high hopes for this time. But I asked her anyway and surprisingly she insisted she wanted something done. The girl doing it was very nice, she tried asking Bee what she would like but of course Bee just kept trying to show her her doll. I thought it was best to start small so I gave Bee a choice between a flower or a bumblebee on her cheek. She chose a "bebe" - bumblebee.

Aaaannnnnd..... voila! 


She did it! Bee actually sat still and allowed a complete stranger to not only touch her face, but touch her with something cold and wet! I was so proud! Of course I had to keep stopping her from poking at it or trying to take the brush off the girl, as you can see in the picture her hand is sneaking towards one of the paints! But overall it was hugely successful and she spent a fair amount of time afterwards admiring her new "bebe" in the mirror!


Just recently Bee had another video fluroscopy. We had one towards the end of 2012 but unfortunately Bee would not cooperate and drink the white liquid so we came away frustrated. She's understood for a long time what 'drinking' is now and we've been offering her water, which she readily accepts. We're desperate for a positive video fluro result as it will be the beginning of trying to wean her off the mic-key button. And so recently we finally received our appointment through for another. Of course we get to the appointment and Bee refuses to sit in the chair, not a good start. She initially refused the drink this time too but I managed to persuade her to take a small sip. When she realised it wasn't water she immediately spat a majority of it back out but the speech therapist was able to see that some did go down her throat and.... she didn't aspirate it!! Wonderful news! Of course this was tempered somewhat by the fact that some aspirators can only aspirate 1 in every few swallows so the team were not able to give us full permission to start her on liquids but they are happy for us to continue with water. When we and Bee feel ready to move forward onto other liquids, juice for example, we'll have to go back for another video fluro and get a comprehensive positive result. But I'll worry about that in the future, for now my girl is drinking water and it's amazing.

Bee turned four years old in September 2012. Four. I still find it hard to believe that I have a four year old. She was spoilt for her birthday and got two lovely days out. The first we spent at Eureka, the national children's museum in Halifax. It's a wonderful place with absolutely tons to do and Bee had a blast even though much of it was beyond her. She's not ready for leaning about how science works and what our blood vessels do just yet but the 'mini town' section was well worth the entrance money! There's a bank, shop, post office, garage and a house. One of Bee's favourite games is pretend play so she had a ball playing 'shops' and posting letters. We would definitely go back there!

Eureka!

Our second day out took place on Bee's actual birthday, we went to Blackpool Sealife Center and then down the front to see Blackpool Lights. the Sealife didn't turn out to be the best choice, Bee was not impressed by the fish and spent most of the time wanting to leave. We got an equally indifferent reaction to the lights, I think by the time we started (when night fell) she was too tired to really be bothered. She did enjoy the flashing light stick we bought her off the front though! I think her favourite part of the day was the meal we went for between the Sealife and the lights. She got to eat chips (her favourite!) with ice cream and a share of daddy's chocolate brownie for dessert! Winner! 

 Over the last few months one of Bee's favourite things to do is bake with her daddy on his days off. She's getting very good at mixing and I've been treated to some very yummy fairy cakes, biscuits and cookies recently!





Our biggest change is that Bee will be starting school in September. School. I can't believe it. It's been a long and confusing process and we still haven't chosen our final school. There are 6 to choose from: 2 special needs schools and 4 mainstream schools with developmental units, which is the fancy way of saying special needs class. We started this process knowing that Bee wouldn't be in a mainstream class but we've kept our minds open as to the other possibilities. We've now had a handful of meetings with the Educational Psychologist and copies of reports from a few of Bee's therapists, we have a good idea of what will be going in her statement: that Bee has complex learning needs and significant developmental delay. She will need a lot of support in an educational environment and ongoing intervention from her therapists. But we know that Bee is a happy and very sociable child, she thrives on attention from others and benefits greatly from interaction with her peers. Her nursery have said she loves being in the 'garden (mainstream) room' and plays brilliantly with the children in there who are a little ahead of Bee developmentally and can model behaviour for her and help support her play.

Of the 6 schools we ruled out two immediately, one for being a faith school and we're not a family of faith, the other as we believe it provides for children with more significant physical and learning needs than Bee. That left us with 4 to choose from; one special needs school and three primaries with development units (or 'designated provision'). We've been encouraged by everyone to view, view, view the schools and find the one we're happiest with so that's what we've done.

We started with the special needs school, which has an outstanding Ofstead report and is located close to Bee's Nana & Grandad's house. The school is great and one of the biggest positives for us is that it caters for children aged 5-19, which means if Bee was to attend there she wouldn't have to move again until she was ready to end her education. This is a big plus for us as Bee really struggles with settling at new places and we're already very stressed about what September will bring. They use Makaton and the PECS system and the teacher/pupil ratio is great. I really couldn't pinpoint any fault with them at all.
But it just didn't feel right.

Over the following few weeks we visited the 3 primary schools with designated provision. one of our main concerns about this choice for Bee is that she would struggle to cope. We loved all three of the primary schools we visited but all the children seemed so much more advanced than Bee. Still, that was something that could be counted as a plus as well as a minus. Bee really benefits from watching and interacting with others, especially children who are ahead of her developmentally.

We came away from the viewings no closer to a decision and decided to go back and look at them all again, but take Bee with us this time. In part this was because we hoped seeing Bee in the environments would help us get that feeling about 'the right one' that everyone said we would get. In was also in part because we wanted staff at these schools (especially the mainstream primaries) to meet Bee and reassure us that they could support her needs and help her thrive. 

The special needs school was first and Bee spent some time with the reception class while we toured the playground/outside space with the headteacher. She had a blast and didn't want to leave but we were not keen on the classroom facilities and felt that the structure of the session we saw was a little too like a nursery. Of course we only saw a snapshot of the day but we came away unhappy.

Next was the primaries. Foz's favourite was first. It's hard to judge this school on it's facilities as it's in the process of being knocked down and rebuilt before September, so will have brand-new everything. Although I suppose that counts as a plus but it doesn't help us imagine Bee attending! We both really liked the teacher at this school, she talked very passionately about her pupils and her job. Plus instead of spending the entire time talking about the school (which others did) she asked us tons of questions about Bee and told us how she (and the school) could support her needs and make the setting suitable for her.
Bee spent about an hour with the class in this school. The minute we walked into the classroom she was gone. She did us a beautiful painting while we spoke to the teacher (which is currently adorning our fridge) and had a ball with all the toys.

The second primary we visited again had been my favourite on our first viewing, I liked the facilities and the staff and with all the schools being so similar in lots of ways it had come to down to minute things like whether or not we liked the teacher. On this visit Bee spent about an hour with the class, while we stood in the background and watched. She sat at the table with them and had some cake and water (they were having some kind of celebration - we timed that well!) and, although she didn't say anything and just watched she didn't look lost or left out. Many of the children went out of their way to try and include her, asking her questions and offering her cake or more water and she didn't seem she or withdrawn. She looked tiny in comparison but not out of place. After cake she followed the other children outside for a 10 minute playtime. She even, I saw it with my own eyes, played throw-and-catch with another little girl! It was a struggle not to cry!

After that second visit Foz and I decided that our final selection was between one of those two. We've decided on a primary with designated provision (rather than a special needs school) as we feel that Bee will really benefit from being among others who she can model behaviour and learning on. She thrives on interaction with others, especially children who can help support her play by leading. Basically, we want to give her the chance to cope in slightly tougher environment. Plus we have the reassurance of knowing she'll have 6-monthly progress reviews and if she's not coping as well as we hope she'll be able to move to the special needs school.

Now all we need to do is decide between our final two!

Aaaand I'm Back...

I've been a little lax with my blogging since December. It's always such a busy month and we've had lots going on since then so it sadly had to take a backseat. But I'm back with a vengeance and intend to keep it updated as often as possible. Much has changed since I last blogged yet in some ways things stay exactly the same. Maybe that's an indicator of having a special needs child.

 

 Our biggest change is Bee is that walking confidently without the aid of her walker. She's still a little wobbly sometimes and especially clumsy when she's tired but in the main she walks everywhere now. I can't tell you how thrilled we were. More than thrilled. Even now, months later, I watch her toddling round the living room or down the aisle at the supermarket and marvel at how far she's come. Bee revels in her new freedom and it's created some challenges for us in how to deal with a very strong-willed toddler who wants to go left when you need to go right. We've invested in a LittleLife Daysack (the bumblebee design of course!) and I highly recommend them. Even if it did take Bee some time to realise that the handle is for us to hold, not her!

We've always considered ourselves very lucky when it comes to Bee's behaviour and thanked our lucky stars when the 'terrible twos' never materialised. She's always in a good mood and very rarely cries, unless there's a good reason. She says 'please' and 'thank you', most of the time without needing to be prompted and is generally charming and sweet with everyone. Or so we thought. We've recently seemed to hit the terrible threes. On top of this Bee has learnt how to be devious, highlighted in a recent trip to my Grandparents. We change her nappy on the bed there and she also likes to bounce on it when supervised. Whilst sitting in the living room chatting and drinking cups of tea Bee came over to me and asked:

"Mama ba" (mama bed)

"No Bethany, we can bounce on the bed when the drinks are finished"

And with that she toddles off so I rejoin the conversation. Minutes later I felt a small hand on my knee and looked down to see Bee, with a nappy in her hand and patting her bum. "Mama ba". You devious little minx! But clever at the same time, very clever!

So now we're having to become requainted with our toddler. Her likes and dislikes have changed, she's tolerant of and aversive to things she wasn't before. It's been a challenge as through all this her speech delay is still causing us some communication problems. She gets very frustrated when she can't express to us what she means or wants.

Something that hasn't changed a great deal is Bee's compulsion habits. We still have to close doors behind us, sit in the same seats in the living room, read the same book over and over again...the list goes on. Sometimes it can be difficult finding the line between accomodating her obsessions and not reinforcing them. It's hard to know where one ends and the other begins, especially when we know it's something she can't help.

Health-wise Bee has been doing very well, with just the one nasty bug over Christmas which landed us in the emergency GP's on Boxing Day. She seems to be much stronger these days, although with a constantly snotty nose (thanks nursery!)

Talking of nursery: Bee loves it. She is now asking to go every day using the Makaton sign for 'nursery'. We're really happy about it as she struggled to settle at first and would scream and cling. Her confidence has soared since starting there and we're really hopeful that Bee will be able to attend mainstream school.

Overall our girl is coming on really well, exceeding everything we were told to expect for her. The fact that we're even able to think about mainstream school is testament to what a clever, strong, beautiful daughter we have. Love you Bethany May xx

Equipment Excitement

We've had a very exciting week this week and one I've been dying to share!

We received a phone call on Monday from Bee's physio to say that the walker we've been waiting for has finally arrived!! Excited? I could barely contain myself!! Thankfully Foz was off work that day so we were able to go down and collect it together as a family. The phone call came mid-morning and the physio said she could fit us in for the collection at 1pm. So 1pm it was, only a couple of hours wait but my word, did it drag.

We didn't take the little toddle truck Bee has been using as we wanted her to give the walker a really good try and not see the toddle truck as something to fall back on. Bee generally enjoys physiotherapy. It's a large room with lots of space and lots of things to climb on, plus toys that are different from her 'home' toys. All that equals lots of fun and a very tired Bee! This time there were no toys out save a musical toy Bee especially likes and a doll with a walking frame.

We'd be expecting standard-issue NHS equipment: black and/or silver, very ungainly and ugly. Yet in the middle of the room was a lovely, shiny gold walker with red rubber handles, small and dainty, perfect for my little miss. I was thrilled! My only slight reservation was the way in which Bee would have to walk with it. She's used to a toddle truck she pushes in front of her. this walker wraps around the back of her legs and has two handles on the sides to hold. I wasn't sure how well she would adapt to this new technique.

Bee did not like the walker. We had tears and tantrums before she would finally try it and even then it took a lot of encouragement. We'd been prepared for that and expected it. Bee can take a while to adapt to anything new and to be honest we didn't expect her to master her discomfort, verging on fear, in the first session. The doll the Physio had brought out was a masterstroke though and a wonderful aid to ease Bee's tension about her new walker. It took lots of encouragement from myself and Foz for her to walk and then it was slightly under duress but she did it! I can't begin to describe the pride when I saw my little girl walking, under her own steam, and choosing where she wants to go. Such a small thing but so huge.

The walker has swivel wheels which can be locked so they only go in straight lines. We started with this as Bee is used to a toddle truck which doesn't turn and we were a little concerned about her ability to steer, as she's never done it before. In short order Bee had straight lines down to a tee and I was feeling giddy with excitement! Throwing caution to the wind we decided to try the swivel wheels, just to give Bee a go. She was a little tenative at first and had a tendancy to drift one way when walking but she soon had that down too. The Physio was happy with her progress and we were confident that with more practise Bee would fly. We were deemed ready for home and so we headed for the door... Daddy in front, Mummy in back and Bee chugging along in the middle! We had a couple of small mishaps into walls and doorframes, partly due to steering inexperience and partly due to being unable to stop herself before hitting something! After making it out of the appointment room, through the waiting room and to the main door we gave Bee the choice stop and be carried. Carried be damned! My girl wanted to walk!!

Walking back to the car

And so she's away! Tomorrow we'll have had Bee's walker for one week and she's flying! She loves to walk! We've walked round Tesco, around a garden centre, down the road to meet Daddy off the bus, even just around the front drive. Any excuse is excuse enough for Bee. Not a day passes when she doesn't say "mama, dior, a-hide", which translates to "mummy, door, outside". What an achievement for her! Not just the words and stringing them together, but that will and desire to walk, to have her independence. We couldn't be happier.

Whoops, wrong turn!

Of course with this new-found freedom comes a small sting-in-the-tail: when Bee wants to go <<- this way and I need to go that way ->> we get some epic tantrums!! We've been amazingly lucky so far in that we've had barely any 'terrible twos' and so this is all part of the bargain. Those tiny rare meltdowns are an insignificant price to pay for such pure, unadulterated freedom for my girl.

A while back I found a piece of equipment online that looked just perfect for Bee, only it was £90, a lot of money. It's called a Little Helper FunPod and is designed for use around the home to replace standing on chairs and such to reach things. Bee is getting to an age where I'd like to do bake with her, let her help with the dishes and similar activities. Unfortunately Bee does not have the balance or co-ordination to stand on a chair, she isn't even standing unaided yet. I could never trust that she would be able to stand safely on a chair or similar. The FunPod states that it's suitable up to age six so in theory Bee would get a lot of use out of it.

We recently ordered one and I've been waiting impatiently for the day of arrival. Coincidentally delivery day happened to be the day we were out collecting Bee's walker with the Physio, we came home to a 'missed delivery' note. How frustrating! The following day Bee and I travelled to the parcel warehouse to collect it, a lovely big and heavy box with 'FunPod' emblazoned all over the sides.

Bee's FunPod

Getting home I unpacked it, built it up and put it in the kitchen. Bee came snooping around and was very interested in this wonderful new addition and was very insistant about being picked up for a good look. I placed her in it, hoping she'd love it but worrying she'd be afraid. Not a chance! Such excitement from her! She had a good look at the edges, a bit of a nibble and did lots of standing up and sitting down inside it.  All in all, a win! That first session we spent eating chocolate biscuits and playing 'peepo', with Bee sitting down and standing up shouting "hiya, bye, hiya, bye".

Since then it's more than proved it was worth every penny of that £90. Bee stands in it to colour or munch on snacks while I cook tea, we play splashing in the sink and I can't wait to try baking. All the while I know she is perfectly safe, at no risk from falling.

Fun in the kitchen sink

Splashing!

There are so many things that parents take for granted with their children, the small things every day that you don't think about. For them to jump in puddles, run and kick a ball, climb in the park... Such simple pleasures a child has and ones that should be appreciated. Now, thanks to this walker and FunPod, my girl will get those same opportunities. I can't wait for the grazed knees, grubby trousers and rock-hard cakes!

Stockley Farm Park

Last week was an extrordinarily busy week for us so I've been a little delayed in blogging our latest news. I've got lots to share though! Monday 25th July brought Foz's birthday and we spent it in the glorious sunshine in the company of some lovely friends.

We arrived at Stockley Farm in the early afternoon and met Clare, Ric and Isla in the carpark. The farm is part of a large Stately House Estate caled Arley Hall in Cheshire and I was surprised at how far the carpark was from the actual farm. The website had advertised a tractor ride from the carpark to the farm but it looked like we were about to have a pretty impressive ride! The trailer for us to ride in was long, with straw bales down both sides. As we boarded and sat down I tried Bee on one of the bales. She had shorts on and I wasn't optimistic. Correctly as it turned out. The 'spikeyness' of the straw was just a little too much sensory input for Bee and she got upset. Once settled on my knee she calmed down and was able to enjoy looking out at the sheep in the fields. The ride was very bumpy and took a good 10 minutes but Bee and Isla seemed to enjoy it.

Our tractor ride!

Our first stop once reaching the farm was the park, a large field with lots and lots of play equipment, plus some sandpits! Bee has always been notoriously bad at sand. We first bought Bee a sandpit for the garden in the summer of 2010 and our first attempt at sitting her in it did not go well. Not well at all. To be honest we didn't even sit her in it, but on the little bench at the side, with just her feet touching the sand. Bee became so hysterical that not only did she vomit but the pressure forced her G-Tube open and shot milk everywhere. We've tried sand on and off since then with absolutely zero success. Our other serious attempt at sand was a trip to the seaside. It went like this:

Bee at Talacre, North Wales

 Consequently we were not expecting much from the sandpits at Stockley Farm. 

They were lovely big wooden ones, with bench edges and we sat the girls down between Clare and Ric, no shoes and socks, just bare feet. Bee started immediately with "naow, naow" in an insistent voice. We persevered and all tried to encourage both girls to allow their feet to rest in the sand. Bee became less stressed as time passed and she became distracted by the other children playing around her. She stopped telling us 'no' and, although wouldn't touch the sand or sit in it, left her feet resting on the sand. She even wiggled her toes and pushed the sane around a bit! Success!

We moved on from the sandpits and headed into the barns where they keep the animals. We looked at goats, pigs, sheep, cows plus guinea pigs and bunnies. Bee did not cry once. Not once. This is the child that is so terrified of animals that she screams if she even hears a dog bark. We didn't get as far as touching any of them, but even standing near and looking without crying was great progress.

Bee in the sand

At baby-goat-feeding-time we headed over to the smaller barn to take our seats on the hay bales, ready for our turn to feed the baby goats. This time Bee went one better with the straw bales and sat on the herself. Bare legs and all! As a concession to her discomfort she wasn't happy unless she was touching me in some way and became a little distressed if I stood up or moved. After a short wait the baby goats were led in and each child was given a short turn holding a bottle of milk for a goat as it drank. In preparation for Bee's turn I talked to her while the other children were having a go: "look Bethany, here comes the baby goats, shall we give the baby goats a bottle? Awwww look, it's a little baby..." and so on and so forth. I tried to talk in terms that Bee was familiar with, referring to the goat as a baby goat (Bee loves her babas) and talking about feeding the baby andgiving him a bottle etc. As Bee's turn came the woman offered her the end of the bottle, with a feeding goat on the teat end, and Bee took it immediately! No hesitation, no fear of the goat, just keen interest in the whole situation. And all the while sat on a straw bale. Another win for my girl.

Sand!

The afternoon wore on and my girl continued to behave beautifully. We looked at the big horses in the stables, the cows being milked and the birds of prey. No fear, no tantrums. Once we'd looked at everything (and had an interlude in the soft play!) we headed back towards the big field with the play equipment. We headed again for the sandpit, this time letting Bee walk across the grass to it herself, with bare feet. She managed it with the minimal complaint and then, after navigating the sandpit bench, she walked across it. In bare feet!! Sand!! In bare feet!! We were over the moon! And we weren't stopping there! After Bee's triumphant sensory success we were off to test other things.

Bee had been pointing at the climbing frame but I had been reluctant to take her over as it was marooned in a sea of wood bark flooring. Not anymore! Holding Bee's hand we toddled over (across the grass) and reached the edge of the wood bark. Bee took a tentative step forward on to the new surface and slowly shifted her weight to let her back foot follow the first. That's it, we were on! The whole time I'd kept up a dialogue about the climbing frame and the slide and the ladder and just about anything to try and keep her attention off the flooring texture. It seemed to be working, she was just so keen to reach that ladder and climb to the top! Bee has really started to enjoy the park and has mostly stopped noticing that many parks have textured metal.

 

Wood chip AND textured metal!

She had loads of fun on the climbing frame and even braved the slide a couple of times. What made me the most proud was that every time she reached the bottom of the slide she stood right up and walked back to the ladder with me to do it all again. No shoes, no socks, just bare feet. My brave girl!

It was far too soon, time to go home. We boarded the tractor with two very tired little girls. It had been a huge day for Bee and way more succesful than any of us could have anticipated. Bee had conquered grass, sand, wood bark and braved the animals! Well done Bee!

Update!

I must apologise for being such a lax blogger of late, I started researching my family tree and have found it so absorbing.

Bee has made some good progress of late. She has a new word: please, which sounds like "pease", or sometimes "pease-a" and has also learn the Makaton sign to go with it. Bee has also started to copy words and phrases she hears us say. Whilst trying to encourage Bee to say "Gem, where are you?" she managed "Dem, ee a ooo". Wonderful!

We're hitting a little snag with her language development though, as we've discovered Bee is using similar sounds for different words. For example, "ba" or "boor" can mean ball, bag, bed or book. Sometimes it takes a little detective work to find what she actually means and Bee can get frustrated. It's something I hope to raise with her SLT at our next appointment.

Physically Bee continues to develop slowly but surely. Still crawling and cruising strongly and now starting to take small, unaided steps away from the furniture. Every day we see Bee get a little bit further each time, although I think walking is still a long way off, her balance is quite poor. Her longest walk has been 6 steps before she lost her balance and fell, a huge achievement!

We're still waiting for the walker from the physiotherapist. I've rang twice and left messages but no reply or returned phone call yet. Monday will bring yet another attempt and each time I'm getting more irate at the lack of communication. Even just a polite "not in stock yet" would suffice, just so I know what's happening. Each day that passes is another day of restrictions and limited ventures.

Talking of restrictions: Bee is reaching an age where it's time to bake cakes and help cook the tea, yet she's way off being able to stand on a chair at the kitchen units. Her lack of balance and co-ordination just wouldn't allow her to do that safely, may never allow her to do that safely. We've been looking for something to solve our problem and came across this:

Little Helper FunPod

It's expensive, £112 on the official website and the cheapest I can find is Amazon at £95. They are supposed to suit ages 1-6 years and, with Bee being a little on the small side for her age and only 2-years-old, I think we'd get good value-for-money. I'd be interested to know if anyone has tried a similar product?

Enjoying some of her beloved Pom Bears

On the food front Bee continues to make small progress. Her ability to bite and chew food is slowly getting better although she still only consumes tiny amounts. We're certainly a long way from having the mic-key button removed. Bee still refuses to touch anything 'messy', much less eat it. So we're sticking to solids for now, despite the SLT's insistence that we start with puree. She doesn't have to feed Bee day-in-and-day-out and Bee enjoys her solids *a lot*.

We've been a little quiet on the appointments front recently but we have Occupational Therapy coming up on Tuesday. I'm not looking forward to it. Since discovering that the OT service in Warrington does not provide one-on-one help for children with sensory needs I've not felt very charitable towards Bee's therapist. I know it isn't her fault, decisions like that happen way above her, but she is the face of a service that is letting us down and I'm still angry.

And the Winner Is.....

This morning brought Bee's appointment with her physio. I've been looking forward to and dreading this appointment in equal measures, knowing it would most likely end in a battle of wills over the walker that I think Bee desperately needs.

I made a point of allowing Bee to walk into the therapy room with her little toddle truck, I wanted the physio to see how small it was for her and how much she has to stoop to use it. I was waging the psychological battle before I made ready to throw down my gauntlet.

Hitching a ride with Daddy

The appointment started as they normally do, observations of Bee playing and moving around the space while we discuss how she's doing. The physio was very pleased with her progression, noting Bee's increase in confidence and it was at this point I decided to lay the groundwork for my challenge. I started to wax lyrical about the freedom Bee has walking with the truck and how much quicker she has progressed since mastering it.

"Well" the physio said, "I was thinking it was maybe a little small for her. How would you feel about a medical walker?"

Completely nonplussed I just looked at her, my whole barrage of arguments flicking through my head while I searched for an appropriate response. Finally I managed "I'm so glad you said that!"

We went on to try a walker in the appointment and Bee, although hesitant at first, should adapt to it nicely. They have swivel-wheels, which will make a huge difference to her. No more walking in straight lines until she hits something because she's not strong enough to lift and turn her truck. No more stooping and walking stiff-legged. My girl will finally, finally have the freedom that other toddlers have: the freedom to roam and explore.