Standing and Walking Hooray!!

We stayed with her "papa" in September before moving up to Idaho this is when she started to do more standing she wouldn't stand on her own but she got on her feet and while being stabilized by holding on to something for support she would and could stand. We had a walker provided by Early Intervention brought in to try and encourage her to walk. There were a few times we would see her stand all by herself and you could see it in her face her debate whether to take a few steps or not. We were about to see her a few times take several steps without any support it was sooo exciting!!!

We got her in the walker at first she absolutely hated it and would have nothing to do with it. It is one where she drags the walker behind her instead of pushing it forward. It worked out quite well when she got the hang of it. We had to coax her with various items to get her to use it only then she would walk about 2-3 steps using it before ditching it and revert to crawling. We would take her outside and she would walk on the sidewalk a few times, looking at the flowers was a great incentive. When we got up to idaho we found an identical one on Ebay and had it shipped to us. It was about $30 was all. She didn't use it a whole lot it just ended up being pushed to the side. The other kids, her cousins, had fun with it which encouraged her on some occassions. We tried to be diligent and get her in it and have everyone in the house just praise and praise her. She used it more and more doing a few more steps finding linoleum is great to drag it on. One day we got home from running errands and she got inside of the walker and started cruising all the around the house....everywhere doing circles in the kitchen absolutely loving it. I think she got fed up with not being about to get anywhere fast and the lack of independence having to hold onto furniture to walk. The walker hasn't been put down since.

Then the walking came. Another afternoon I had put her braces and ugly shoes on after not wearing them for several weeks and we again came home from running errands and i set her down on her feet. She stood for a little bit and then took off walking. No assistance from furniture no walker just all on her own. This was late march 2013. My jaw dropped. I got out my cell phone and started recording thinking I've got to send this to everyone no one will believe it. So i posted it on facebook so all her distant family could see it. I was sooo excited for her I shed a few tears and praised and praised her. She was so excited she had the confidence to walk all by herself!!!

Now whenever we go out she'll walk on her own but I insist on holding her hand to give her support so she doesn't completely wear herself out. Early intervention insists on her still using the walker so she can walk farther longer so she won't fatigue as fast. I notice when she's really worked out that day she'll take about a 4 hour or so nap just to re-couperate and then she'll be ready for sleep at night about 3 hours later. Otherwise her naps are around 2 hours. Her physical therapist mentioned that overworking her muscles may actually be breaking them down and once they break down they don't come back. I just am not sure what to do the fact that she knows she can walk on her own makes her not want to walk with a walker. So its a win/lose.