My Little Climber.....

Miss Veronika has learnt to climb! She climbed onto the couch all by herself in late January. I was and still am one very HAPPY Mummy. I have to admit it was one of the proudest moments of my life. She has been managing to pull herself to stand up at the couch for a couple of weeks before she decided that one day she could have a go at getting herself all the way on to the couch.
You should of seen the DELIGHT in her face when she settled into the couch. She gave herself a little clap and a cheer. Then I gave her a BIG clap and a CHEER. Coming down was not so glamorous! Head 1st. Now I know I cant wrap her in bubble wrap, but I do have the niggle in the back of my mind that kids with Down Syndrome can give themselves spinal injury from sudden impact. Second time she came down, again head 1st, but she did put her arms our to brace the impact. Third and fourth times, she just layed down and rolled off the side of the couch, and then she figured out to turn around and go down feet first. Another Proud moment, Veronika has figured that one out all by herself, clever girl.

 Getting Started!

Getting that leg up....

Almost there....

That was hard work. But I made it....

Did you notice that Veronika has new SHOES! We saw the orthoptist a coulple weeks ago, and she made Veronika a new foot orthotic for her good foot(her right one). Now that she has started to stand up her ankle is collapsing because of her extremely low muscle tone, and she is standing on her ankle bone rather than on her foot. The type of orthotic she has, means that she has to wear it under shoes. We have been using it for about 15 mins at a time, as she needs to slowly get used to it, and also to check that she isnt getting sore spots on her foot from it. So far its not too bad, but I think that when we go back for her check up with the orthoptist this week, she might need to heat it and stretch it slightly as its a bit tight across the top of her foot. Her shoes are a  little bit big, as its really difficult to find light shoes. Veronika cant wear heavy soled shoes because of her low muscle tone. I went shopping at the shop I got the boys school shoes from, as I was talking with the lady there about shoes and orthotics.I picked out a nice lite pair of shoes, and got her feet measured, her left foot is a size 3, her right a 3 and a half. Hmm that shoe starts in a 5. Of course it does. Oh well the AFO she wears on her left foot measures a size 4 so she is probably going to need a size 5 anyway. So all in all its slighlty too big, but the foot orthoptist said it should be ok as Veronika isnt walking around it them. You wouldnt think it was that hard to find light suitable shoes!