Simon has now been in the First Steps program for nearly three weeks, and we are seeing some progress on the walking front. It is, however, s-l-o-w progress, and I’m beginning to wonder if he’ll qualify for preschool when it begins this August 14.
On the plus side, he spends much of his day standing, he walks with us, a push-toy, or the furniture often, he squats and bends down all the time, and he’s been a stair climbing machine. On the minus side, he still butt scoots and crawls a lot, he doesn’t stand unsupported or get himself to standing alone, we’ve struggled to get him to walk holding onto a common object, and he’s only let go to walk solo three or four times.
The first time he took some steps alone was was last Thursday. He and Amy were walking together, each holding on to a “hand” of Baby Bunny. Simon got so excited about his errand that he let go of Baby Bunny and went for it. Alas, he pitched forward and fell down, thus putting a strain on his previously perfect relationship with Baby Bunny.
Then Sunday night, he went to cruise from the ottoman to the couch. He was holding on to Dirty Dog at the time and I was reaching for Dirty Dog to provide a common object. Only I did not yet have a hold on Dirty Dog when Simon took three little steps to me. Since he wasn’t bent over or trying to run, he wasn’t leaning forward and he didn’t pitch forward; he walked just fine…for three steps. As he had no idea what amazing feat he had just accomplished, he was not even a little emboldened to try this new trick some more. He’s taken similar steps at least twice since: once for Matt and once for Amy. But he’s not wild about it, and once he realizes what’s going on, he sits himself right down.
I suppose I had to expect progress to come in, to use a cliche, baby steps, but man oh man oh man, these baby steps are leaving me impatient and hungry for more.