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.

Friday Fill-Ins #125

Found this at Mariposa's site, and it seemed like fun, so here goes:

1. Moving sucks.

2. There's no such thing as free.

3. My best quality is my ability to get along with anyone.

4. Screw details.

5. In nearly 10 years, I've accomplished a lot, but often feel as though I haven't come very far at all.

6. Relaxation is what I need right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching tv and going to bed, tomorrow my plans include cleaning up the place a bit and Sunday, I want to enjoy the weather outside with my son!


Try it, you'll like it! You still have 26 minutes if you're on EST like me, and plenty of time if you're further west.

Haiku Friday #21: Self-Challenge, Continued...

As long as I am
Updating you on current
Events in my life,

I might as well write
About my latest results
With my fitness goals:

When I updated
Last time, I mentioned that I
Was doing well with

Exercise, but not
So well with my diet plan.
Maybe I was too

Hard on myself, but
The gist was the same. I did
Take some advice from

My commenters, but
My habits are still not what
I want them to be.

I'm still steadily
Improving my overall
Level of fitness,

And soon I plan to
Start focusing on my strength
And balance training.

I am not eating
As well as I want to or
Should be, but I'm still

Trying and getting
Better every week; what I'm
Eating is good food,

But I have yet to
Find the right balance of foods
For me, including

More fruits and veggies.
I'm drinking more water and
My energy's high.

Okay, seriously, gotta switch to prose before I drive all you readers out there batty.

During the past month or so, when I'd been more depressed, I didn't keep up on my fitness plan much. But I can honestly say that I've been back on the wagon for a few weeks now, and I'm very happy with my basic level of fitness. I definitely have more energy, and moving gets easier and easier all the time.

Like I said, I'm not eating bad food, just maybe not enough of the really good stuff -- green vegetables and fruits, primarily. I'm getting better, though.

Anyone else out there still working on getting in shape? How's it going? Leave me a comment!

Want to read more haiku or try it out yourself? Click here.

Playing Catch-Up

I've had kind of a crappy few weeks month or so. I've been feeling myself sink into depression again, despite getting a lot better about minding my meds. Who knew that all it would take is putting the bottle of pills in my bedside drawer?

I've really needed to return to regular therapy. I loved my most recent therapist, but had to stop seeing her when our caseworker screwed up our Medicaid and they stopped paying for my sessions. So rather than call and try to resolve the matter, or attempt to find a new counselor, I've been sitting on my ass night after night, watching tv. I stay up later and later (and get up later and later -- meaning I've actually let it get bad enough that I've been late to work a few times), and I ignore all responsibility, save work and parenting duties.

My perfectionist side keeps telling me that trying to fix my situation wouldn't do any good -- that the insurance will never pay for a claim several months old and getting older every day, and even if I could find another therapist that takes our insurance, s/he wouldn't be as good as mine. So I disappear into my fantasy world and escape. Over and over. And once I start, I just can't seem to stop.

And it's been adversely affecting my whole life. Like I said, I've been late to work a few times, and when I'm at work, I am exhausted and can't do my job as well. I'm cranky and short-tempered with my son, and my marriage has suffered the most. Last week my husband and I were fighting pretty much the whole week. We've mentioned the "D word" before, but never decided it was the right thing to do.

Yesterday my husband decided he couldn't deal with it any more, and told me he couldn't see any other option but to get a divorce. I said a number of different things to try to change his mind, but nothing would. I told him that I wanted us to be together, but I didn't want him to be unhappy; if being apart would make him happy, then so be it.

But last night our son was sick. He had a midlevel fever, and he kept waking up again and again. I got up with him and got him to go back to sleep. The next thing I knew it was 5 AM and he was crying again. My husband said, "It's your turn. I got him last time, when you were sound asleep." I accused him of making it up (I had no memory of it, right?) but went and took care of the baby anyway.

Forty-five minutes later, I crawled back into bed and apologized for insulting him in that way. I rolled over to go back to sleep, and my leg brushed his. I didn't move it, and a few minutes later, he enveloped me in his arms and we cuddled. I said, "I missed this. . . . Do you really never want to do this again?" We spent the next half-hour cuddling and talking and making up.

All day I've been pretty deliriously happy. I know that we both have a lot of work to do to make up for what we've done to each other in the past several months, but right now, nothing can shake my good mood.

Haiku Friday #20: It's Broken

Remember when I
Was berating myself for
Being a bad mom?

Well, it turns out it's
Even worse than all of that.
Wedn'sday the second,

My husband took our
Son to the orthopedic
Doc to check his arm.

At first it was to
Check for any hip problems
Since he's not walking.

But while he was there,
The specialist would check his
Hurt right arm as well.

At the orthopedic center, they took yet another x-ray of his arm and found a healing fracture up near his elbow. So they put a cast on it right then and there. They let him pick out the color he wanted -- he chose kelly green. Apparently he wasn't into the teddy bears or dinosaurs (now, if they'd had a cat pattern...).

Horrible mother that I am, I stayed at work during the whole process -- with all of Adam's illness lately, I'm running out of sick time (the next day, we found out he had roseola as well -- this in addition to already having an ear infection and several molars making their entrance).

So he's still in the sling. He's still trying to crawl on that arm, although with more success and fewer tears and frustration now. And we still don't know what happened, although we now know what's wrong, at least.

The good news? There's nothing wrong with his hips, so as long as he's willing, walking shouldn't be a problem. The nice lady from Help Me Grow came today; she determined that Adam has a gross motor delay, but otherwise he's developing on or ahead of schedule -- especially ahead in the language. No surprises.

Any suggestions for encouraging a child to walk, who is usually content to just sit on the floor with whatever has caught his interest?