October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month and I have decided to participate again in the 31 for 21 blog challenge. Many many bloggers are taking part in this month-long challenge to raise awareness of Down syndrome by blogging every day in the month of October.
I was thinking of keeping each weekday to a theme to give myself some structure. I am VERY happy to say that I've made a last minute change to the Monday theme due to an unexpected MAJOR accomplishment by Gwyneth tonight. SHE STARTED WALKING. So I will kick off my 31 for 21 posts with the first "Milestone Monday"....
I have been waiting so so so long for this moment. Gwyneth is 4 years and 7 months old and today, October 1st, she walked independently. She walked willingly and happily. She giggled, she cheered, she beamed with pride. And I have not been able to stop smiling all night. I took about a million video clips of her.
A lot of factors in the last few months have come together to make this moment happen. Gwyneth's baby brother started walking in July (at 18 months old), Gwyn started back at school August 1st where she is exposed to hundreds of walking kids, Gwyn started hippotherapy, and she has been walking with only one hand held for two months. She has been building up her strength and coordination, and finally she felt stable enough to let go and take her FIRST STEPS on her own.
The best part of tonight was that Gwyneth was having so much fun reaching this milestone. At first she just took two or three steps for me, but we kept practicing and going further, and by bedtime she was walking ten steps and trying to push herself further. She tried getting back up to stand in the middle of the floor when she fell (when she has always only used furniture to pull up on to stand). I have never seen her so motivated to do something physical. She kept going and going and actually got herself out of breath.
I have a slight guilty feeling that my reaction to her walking is much bigger than when my "typical" son started walking a few months ago. But I think my reactions and celebrations of each event is in direct proportion to the amount of time I had been dreaming of the moment for each child. And because Gwyneth was my first child, I always thought I would be experiencing her first steps before I had any other children. So having another baby when Gwyn was almost 3 years old, and then watching him learn to walk first was a little bit hard. But I was definitely so proud and so excited for him. The difference was he learned it on his own, and for Gwyneth it has been an uphill battle with therapy and equipment and orthotics and lots of forced "practice."
So happy for our little girl Gwyneth! And I can't wait for her therapy sessions tomorrow!
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