Progress

Anna will be two in March and she has made amazing strides since her diagnosis last year. She can walk, sit, sit up, stand up, lie down, crawl up the stairs, go down the stairs on her bottom, feed herself (she's even starting to use a fork with certain items), crawl and a multitude of other things that I don't have a name for. Sometimes I can't even tell the difference between her right and left hands.

Of course, all of this is still done with a little more of a struggle than other children her age, but we're so pleased that she is catching up so well. We're even surprised by some of the things she attempts. This morning she was practically running back and forth on the couch - not an easy feat for a child with balance issues and recently she's been pulling the box that we store under her table to use as a bench out from under the table and steps onto it for a bird's eye view! It makes us a little nervous as we watch the balancing act, but we certainly don't discourage her.

Anna seems to have an intuitive ability to know what she can and cannot do. We're trying to show her how to walk up the stairs now that she's been crawling up them for a few months. Every once in awhile she goes to grab onto the railing as if to try to step up without using her hands but then reverts to crawling. When I try to follow her lead and help her, she pulls away and goes about her business crawling up. I know that within the next month or so she will attempt it on her own, succeed and then begin to improve her new skill by practicing non-stop. It's hard to say no to her when she does this because she so badly wants to add to her abilities. There aren't a lot of gates in house for this exact reason.

Yesterday Anna climbed up the stairs and then went down on her bottom at least three times before dinner time. It's certainly not the most exciting adult entertainment but Dave and I sure do enjoy watching her excitement and independence. The other morning, she went to the top of the stairs with her teddy bear in hand, sat down, threw teddy down so she'd have free hands and proceeded down the stairs. I have to hold back laughter sometimes because I know, to her, this was serious business - to me, simply adorable!