October saw us head out to LA for Aiden 5th intensive with the Napa Centre, ahead of us were 3 weeks of 4 hours of therapy per day.  I saw we, although it’s Aiden who physically works through it, it is us as a family who feel every ache, every step, every achievement and every step he takes.  We are so incredibly proud of how tolerant Aiden has become, thinking back to his first intensive and the inconsolable screaming for 3 hours a day to this intensive where we maybe had 2-3 quick tears and then he moved on.  He is now happy to work and be handled by anyone, he is able to make friends with this therapists and bond with them so well, he shows everyone how clever and cheeky he is, he loves to play tricks on people and enjoys making up games with his therapists.

We also ensure that Aiden has time to have fun, it’s important that he doesn’t just associate these trips with therapy otherwise he won’t get as much out of them.  To ensure he has fun we go to the beach, we found he loves Manhattan Beach Pier and loves to run up and down it in his walker, stopping once in a while to watch the surfers and waves.  We go to DisneyWorld, he loves a cafe so treating him is more fun now.

It’s incredible to see how much Aiden progresses over the 3 weeks and the weeks that follow once we’re home.  This little man has our full respect and we are in awe of him for everything he endures and achieves, he really does live up to this name, he’s simply just amazing!!