Big Steps

For 14 months I have had an immobile child. I know many people would go on and on about how lucky I am and how once they start moving, they never stop and blah blah blah. But seriously, I don't think many people stop to think about the inconvenience of having a child that can not move from one point to another for that long. Especially a child who is extremely social and won't let me out of her sight! It's frustrating for both of us because she wants to be wherever I am, but sometimes when I need to get things done, she just can't be. She also gets frustrated when she sees the cats and can't go after them. It's to the point where a lot of times I have to shove a cat in the basement or let them outside before she comes down to play because I don't want her to flip out and throw a tantrum because she can't go after the cat. I'm pretty sure she just hates everything about the crawling position. She has the strength to crawl, she is good at rocking on her hands and knees and weight shifting her arms, but at the end of the day she doesn't like that she is closer to the ground, when everyone else is up high. I have diligently been doing crawling exercises with her for months now. She is much better in that position than she used to be (read: she doesn't throw a tantrum and thrash around when I put her on all fours) but she is still not a fan. I don't know that she ever will be.

So when she started taking steps with her walker the other day, I was ecstatic. Even if the walker gets used for awhile before the actual walking begins, that is enough for me. The fact that she could start cruising around the house with a walker makes me feel like the end of this immobility will be here soon. It would not completely surprise me if she skipped over crawling and went straight to walking (much to her therapist's dismay). Of course I want her to crawl before she walks. It's good for building up the strength in her arms and teaching kids how to get in and out of positions. HOWEVER, you can't force a child to crawl. If you could, trust me, she would have been crawling months ago. So even if this ends up meaning all of my effort to get her to crawl was in vain, I am just thankful that my child may finally be able to get around ON HER OWN! I do have to say though, my arms are getting pretty buff from all this kid lugging. It's a pretty awesome work out to have an immobile child for over a year, but I'm ready for flabby arms. Bring on the walking!