Thinking Outside the Box

Benjamin's physical therapist, Margaret, brought a new torture device this morning-- this small, wooden box. She had him practice stepping on and off of it. Then, they played Mr. Potato Head, with Benjamin standing on the box, Margaret holding the 'Tato and the bin of body parts at Ben's feet, so he had to bend down and pick up each piece and then stand again to plug it in. Ben has a much tighter stance (stands with his feet closer together) when he's, well, standing on a very small box, so his only other choice is to fall off of said box.

After he tired of that game-- a good long while (because it sure is funny when you put Mr. Spud's ear in the hat hole!)-- Margaret turned the box over and placed Ben inside it. The purpose of this is to get him lifting his feet and stepping over obstacles. He tried his method first, which was to stand there and cry for Mommy to come to the rescue. Eventually, Ben started getting the hang of things. But he was not happy when Margaret left the box for us to practice while she is on vacation.