Walking in Mia's gait trainer sure is hard!

On me, that is. Sheesh. I hook her into the confounded thing with great care. She halfway sits on a small seat, with a plastic brace in front and behind her. Straps go around her thighs and ankles to keep her legs going relatively straight while she's walking. Her PT told me to keep her arms free while she's walking, because it helps her straighten up more. So I do all this, and we're off! I have two options: move her legs for her, or push the contraption along and force her to do it herself. She can do it, but she doesn't want to. I started off by moving her legs myself, trying to get her to understand that she has to bend her knees. I'm down on my hands and knees behind her, gradually moving her forward. Then I decided to try just pushing her to see if she got the hang of it. She bent her legs a little, but basically decided this was fun and started dragging her legs. So that didn't work. Her PT also noticed that she likes to turn her head to the right side when she's working, which makes her slump. Weirdly, if you turn her head to the front, she automatically straightens up. So I'm trying to keep her facing front at the same time. If you think that Greg could use a few extra hands, you'd be right. As far as I can tell, her PT has only two arms and hands, yet he manages to do it. It's uncanny! We walk up and down our hallway, because it's not carpeted and it's easier for her to push off. By the time we have done a few runs, she's whimpering because it's, you know, work, and I'm dripping with sweat. I'm too old for this! She'll figure it out eventually, because it's just going to take practice, but the beginning of the process is always the most frustrating and annoying. We'll keep doing this until she gets it right! I took her picture before she got all weepy, so it will be up here before long. I suppose I should buy a digital camera just for this blog ... Can I resist?