We knew Pádraig could move his leg forward and backward when he is sitting in his chair. We knew he could push and pull his legs against some resistance, for example when we were holding our hands against his legs and asked him to push against our hands.

But today, his therapist brought in a stretch band, an exercise band that stretches when you pull it. Seeing Pádraig pushing and pulling his left leg and his right leg against the resistance of this blue stretchy belt, however, was another really brilliant demonstration of how much his body control has advanced over the past months. It was another first. Not quite black belt stuff yet, but pretty close!

After these pretty cool exercises of pushing and pulling his legs against this blue elastic belt, Pádraig continued with spelling games and a speech and language session.

Is all this extraordinary?

If it was.

It shouldn’t be.