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Saturday, June 13, 2009

Sound the trumpets (and lock up your breakables...)!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, toddlers and tweens....



It's finally happened! He's finally done it! My son, just recently 18 months old, has finally taken his first steps!!!



Seriously. I was starting to think I'd have to carry him to his kindergarten teacher, saying, "Good luck and have fun!" and run away cackling maniacally. Not to mention start taking back pain meds in my early 30s.



But he's really, actually, finally done it. And what better time than 12 hours after his first appointment with the physical therapist recommended by his pediatrician?



(I should take a moment here to explain that the PT was not my idea. Our pediatrician -- as good as I think she is -- can be a little nutty sometimes. She started showing concern at his 15-month checkup at his lack of mobility, especially since at that point he still wasn't even "army-crawling" much, or crawling on his hands and knees at all. So she ordered a hip x-ray, a visit from the Help Me Grow -- an early-intervention type organization -- specialist, and a trip to see the physical therapist. Working in a daycare, I've seen some kids start to pull up on furniture and cruise as young as 9 months, and others not walk across the room completely unassisted until the age of 22 months. So I was not concerned in the least, much less worried enough to get professional help with gross motor skills.)

So he had the x-ray, saw the Help Me Grow specialist, and yesterday, his first physical therapy. After it was determined that he probably had a delay because of issues with balance, confidence, and motivation (conclusions we had already reached), Adam took his first few steps at my parents' house after we'dall had dinner with my aunt and uncle from out of town.

After we came back from the restaurant, we were playing with him on the floor and watching him dance-- he's got a little four-legged toy, that has a tabletop with interactive foods; when you push the cookies it sings "One to ten" to a salsa kind of tune. Adam will pull himself up on the table, push the button, then bend his knee, moving his leg up and down, and thus shaking his booty. It's pretty darn cute.

Um. It seems that thought got away from me. Where was I? Oh yes. So we're watching him play and dance, and then he got bored with that so my dad got up and started walking him around the room, holding Adam's hands up for balance. He said, "Let's walk to Tia (my sister -- tia is Spanish for aunt)." And that time, he did actually walk about 2 or 3 of the 6 or 7 steps it took to reach her. I squealed and giggled (or at least, I tried -- I've had no voice for the past 3 days or so).

This morning we had a hard time getting him to repeat it, but when he did, I was still very excited. Still working on performances for my in-laws. We'll try again tomorrow.

But at least I know he's not never going to walk.

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