Wednesday, September 29, 2010

One day.......

......these small steps will be a thing of the past.....


.....but today, I will ENJOY them, one small step at a time!!!
(you may want to pause the music at the bottom of the page)

Since Landon started going to "school" full time this month, he has been making some really great gains in many different areas.  I am amazed at how quickly he has been learning ALL of these new skills.  For about a month and a half now, Landon has enjoyed pulling to stand on his own, every chance he gets.  About 2 weeks ago, he started creeping along the coffee table when I would move toys, just out of his reach.  He would TRY to pull up on his "learning walker",  but he was primarily using his upper body strength as opposed to his legs and he would end up pulling the walker on top of himself.  Clearly, Landon would not be defeated.  He has continuously been practicing pulling up on the walker, and has finally succeeded.  

This past Friday, while I was on the floor playing with Landon, he headed over to his walker, stood up behind it, and took his very first step.  Yes, the tears filled my eyes, immediately!!!  I was in complete shock.  Shocked that it happened at that very moment!  Every day, this little boy,  simply amazes me !  With extremely "minimal" assistance, Landon began pushing his walker around the coffee table.  On occasion, the walker would get ahead of his feet, I would hold it in place until his feet caught up, let it go, and off he went again.....by himself.  The music is a bit of a distraction!  If you noticed my hand tapping the walker in the video, I was pressing the button to make the music play.  If the music should stop, then so shall Landon!  lol  We are trying to keep him on the carpet for now.  He has hit the hardwood floors a couple of times, but he just picks up too much speed.  

It's funny how when I look back at Landon's first year, it seemed as though each new skill took months to master.  I remember how frustrated I felt.  Second guessing if I was giving him all the tools he needed to achieve each new goal.  I remember almost 6 months ago, sitting on my floor, with Landon's entire EI team.  I remember discussing our goals for Landon, clearly.  At that time, the "main" focus was for Landon to start bearing weight on his legs.  Something he wanted absolutely NO part of.  I remember Scott & I discussing whether or not we wanted to list walking as one of his goals.  We actually decided against it, not because we didn't believe that Landon would some day start walking, but rather that we didn't feel that was a "realistic" goal at that time.  The bottom line was, IF Landon does walk within 6 months, that would be a huge bonus!!  Honestly speaking, if you had asked me 6 months ago, if I thought Landon would be walking by the time he was 2, I probably would have responded, NO!  After all, he wasn't cooperating in the bearing weight on his legs department, AT ALL!  Why should he have to, after all, he had perfected the commando crawl.  The boy could get around=)

I guess my thoughts at the time were based on how long it was taking Landon to learn new skills.  But all of a sudden, new skills are popping up more frequently.  Is it because he has 2 older brothers?  Is it because Landon goes to "school" full time, 4 days a week?  Is it because he has a heavy therapeutic schedule 5 days a week?  Honestly, I really DO NOT know!!  Maybe, this is just simply, Landon's time!!! 

I WILL tell you this, I am BEAMING!!  I am so happy for my little peanut.  For all his hard work.  It's the small stuff........the small steps.......that truly are MAJOR accomplishments and are cause for the biggest celebrations!! 

Will all new skills emerge as quickly.........maybe........maybe not!  But you can bet that walking will be a goal on Landon's next IFSP!!  Do I think that there is a possibility that Landon will be walking by 2 years old?  YES!!  Landon's possibilities are ENDLESS!!!






  


15 comments:

  1. Whoo-hoo Landon!! He's doing awesome Kelli!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Way to go, Little BusyBottoms!!! You are such a champ!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. look at him go - yeah landon!!! kelly - i am not sure (i couldn't tell on the video) if there is anywhere you could put something on the bottom of the walker... but we have a 1lb or 2lb (not sure) ankle weight opened up and laying across the bottom of whitney's walking toy and it helps to slow it down from getting away from her too quickly when she is "walking" with it. so happy to see him getting around and bearing weight beautifully on his legs!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beam away mama!!! That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Now when we meet up Em and Landon and chase each other.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome job Landon! WOO HOO!!!! Keep up the great work buddy!

    P.S. We weighted Alayna's walker down with weights to keep it from getting away from her on our hardwoods.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This was an exciting post to read! I can just feel your pride for Landon and his accomplishments! Way to go Landon!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Go Landon!!!! I see walking in your very near future...he's doing AWESOME!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is brilliant. One thing I have learned is that, while I do everything to encourage Cathal, before anything else I trust him to find his own way into new skills.

    ReplyDelete
  9. YAY Landon!!!! He's going to be walking before you know it!

    I nominated you for a blogging award...stop on by to pick it up!

    ReplyDelete
  10. OMG Kelly, Friday was SOME DAY!!! HAHAAAA! I am soo happy for Landon and you guys!! I bet your heart feels like it is just going to burst with all that pride! Woo Hoo!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. He is going to be walking before you know it!! Claire refuses to put any weight on her legs right now, but I know she'll get there. I've also been thinking about putting Claire in 'school' before too long. I think all the other kids will be very good for her.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yippeee!!! That is very very exciting and you should be beaming!! I am beaming for you!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Man, I have missed so much! Landon is doing GREAT! You should be proud, what an amazing little guy you have there.

    ReplyDelete