Delayed Milestone :: My Late Walker

We all come to the realization at sometime or another that there is no right way to parent our children. There is no manual to follow or person to turn to who knows it all. We are all just trying to figure it out the best we can, with the tools we were given. Sometimes we are solely focused on getting through the day and keeping everyone alive. Other times we are doing our very best to raise good, kind, decent humans who will thrive in today’s cut-throat society.

Some days, the universe throws us curve balls. Whether it be an unexpected sickness, a broken arm or the undeniable developmental delay. We never want these things to occur, but if and when they do, we have to do our very best to figure out how to deal with them.

Shayne came into this world with the calmest demeanor and sweetest personality. She was like an Angel. She hardly cried and was just so loving and cuddly from the moment she was born. As she began to grow, she was so strong! Holding her head up after just a couple of weeks, and even started rolling over at two months. Everything was right on cue, or sometimes even earlier. She started solids before six months, and was sitting on her own before seven months. We were expecting her to be up and running soon. Her brother was crawling at 9 months, and quickly after, walking at only 10 1/2 months old. We were expecting a similar timeline for Shayne since we knew she would be wanting to chase after Kolton.

It was actually a relief that she was not an early crawler. She was always perfectly content sitting and watching the action. This made my life as a mother of two little ones much easier. While we baby-proofed the house very early just to be safe, it turned out not to be necessary. At her nine month appointment, I talked to her pediatrician about her unwillingness to crawl. She was not concerned and said she would crawl when she was ready. This put me at ease. Around 10 months is when I began to get concerned. It was not the fact that she wasn’t crawling, but the fact that she didn’t seem to be trying to move at all. I was worried about the strength of her legs. Still, I was told to wait until she turned one before we considered any sort of intervention.

A little before her first birthday, she discovered that on hard, slick surfaces, she could push herself with her arms, and glide backwards on her butt. While it was absolutely adorable watching her glide backwards on the floor, this brought up the same concern about her legs. They were not doing any of the work. It was all in her arms. When we went back to see her pediatrician for her one year appointment, she told us that if she is not crawling by 13 months, to bring her back.

By 13 months, Shayne was full on scooting. She had mastered this little crab walk and figure out how to get around. Still not utilizing much of her legs and only able to move to the right, but she was getting around. Her pediatrician still insisted that she do physical therapy to strengthen her legs and get her to crawl on all fours.

Diapers from Parasol Co

I was unaware of the importance of crawling before this experience. I have always been told that many babies don’t actually crawl at all before they start walking. I thought that scooting was just fine. While this is very common, crawling builds a lot of strengths in babies that they use throughout the years. It helps build their leg, arm and shoulder muscles. It also strengthens their hands for when they start writing, and helps with their coordination and balance.

Photo courtesy of Jaime Hearts Photography 

After only two days in physical therapy, Shayne was officially crawling! It was so cute to watch and she was so proud of herself! She would laugh with every movement and was finally able to get around quickly and efficiently. She was also able to finally get into a little mischief.

While the crawling milestone is supposed to be reached by 12 months, the walking milestone is supposed to be reached by 15 months. Shayne was about to turn 16 months, so we still had some work to do. She has been continuing her physical therapy every week and I have been taking her to a Gymboree Play class one day per week. She loves being around all of the other little ones in her age group, and also loves all of the fun activities and songs they have for her.

She loves going to physical therapy and loves her therapist, Rebecca. She practices standing, crawling, climbing and is now walking up stairs with the support of the railing. This is all done with assistance of course, and Rebecca is trying to make sure she is properly using all of her leg muscles. It is beyond adorable to watch and she thinks she is just playing the whole time.

She has mastered the crawl, pulling herself up to standing, and walking with the support of furniture or fingers, and did this all pretty quickly with the help of therapy.

After almost 3 months of physical therapy, Shayne has finally taken her very first unsupported step!! She was so excited and received so much praise! We still have a ways to go, but I know this fierce little girl will continue to amaze and impress us everyday!

Keep it up Shayne! You will be running after your big brother in no time!

xoxo

Danielle (proud mama)