a mother's instinct is always right...

yup, that's right folks. I was right. YOU were wrong. This post is for all of you out there who said to me, "Oh, don't worry, Leah will walk when she wants to. She'll crawl when she's ready. My cousin's baby, blah, blah, blah...My sister's son, blah, blah, blah." Okay, i'm not really that rude. But...at 16 months, i think it was past the time that leah would be moving when she was ready. I wasn't glad that I didn't have to chase her around like everyone thought I should be...I was worried that I would have to carry her to kindergarten!! She wasn't crawling or cruising or anything, so, my pediatrician wanted me to put her in physical therapy right away.

So, to physical therapy we went. We have been three times now...we go about every two weeks. Each time, we get a few assignments to work on. The therapist shows me what to do and I'm supposed to help her exercise as much as I can at home. Sounds great, right? WRONG. It is so hard! I never would have believed it if I weren't doing it, but most of the time she just fights it and it's like this battle to see who will outlast who...and Leah usually wins. It's emotionally and physically draining for me...but, we are starting to see some improvements.

When we started, Leah was 15 1/2 months old. She was sitting just fine, steamrolling like a champ and spinning on her bum (but only using her hands to push her in circles). She hated being on her knees, hated standing (or if she did stand, she would lock her knees and rest her chest against whatever she was standing against) and wouldn't walk along with me as i held her hands.

Now, 4 weeks later, she is:

• going from lying down to sitting up all on her own (i cannot tell you how many times we worked on this! - we went to get her from her crib a few days ago and she was sitting up playing with her dolly, just giggling...she was so proud of what she had done!),
• spinning in circles using her legs,
• standing like a champ (and unlocking her knees sometimes),
• using her feet a little bit for balance,
• using her trunk and arms for balance A LOT more,
• walking along with me as i hold her hands,
• kneeling pretty well,
• and...drumroll, please...SCOOTING FORWARD ON HER TUMMY. Yes, i said it. It can go down in the record books. Just this week she started scooting forward all on her own.

i know i sound like an idiot being so excited about this when she is 16 months old, but it's so nice to finally see some sort of improvement. It makes me feel like we're finally moving in the right direction and all the time and effort I have put into it in the last few weeks are paying off.

Today was a not-so-good day at the therapist's office because leah was a MEAN baby all day. But, then you see this...

...and you just melt. The rest of the picture that you don't see is Leah kneeling against her chair reading a book...and i saw her little toes sticking out behind her and just about lost it. She is so dang cute. And we are soooo proud of her!

yay for leah!