Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Everything in its own time

Take a look at this:


This is a first for Finn. It happened tonight and I was there to see it! He's been proficiently cruising - stepping sideways - along furniture and even walls for several weeks now, but putting one foot in front of the other is a first. He figured it out all on his own. We actually have a little push-toy meant for this purpose, but each time I've tried to stand him up behind it, he balks. He just needed to find his own way, in his own time.

Honestly, it brings angry tears to my eyes all over again when I think back to how Eun, his former PT, used to force him to walk laps around the living room, held up by his hands, with weights on his ankles, and him crying in protest. That was just never going to work, and it was mean to boot. I just don't think walking is something you can force - as with any child, they'll do it when they're ready.

And I know Finn is still likely months away from being a full-fledged walker, but man, look at him go!

13 comments:

Sweet Pea's Mommy said...

Great video! Congrats Finn!

Sharon said...

Go Finn, that's great!

Catherine Just said...

that brought tear to my eye with so much excitement for Finnian!!
HOORAY!!!!!

Tricia said...

Wow! Look at him go! :)

Hey, I think that's your walker in the background, right? We have the same one. It helped us to tie a handkerchief around the front wheels (sort of in between the wheel and the other part) to slow it down. Or, I know you hate ankle weights, but if you put them on the walker in the front (instead of on Finn!!) you can weight the walker down. The reason I mention it is you said Finn was a little hesitant with it. My kids (both of them) were too. It just went WAY to fast and because they (G in particular) put a fair amount of weight on the handle it would easily tip back. The weight and slowing down the wheels seemed to help that some.

ORRRRR you can just keep using the chair! :) We have an ottoman both kids STILL love to push around!

Anonymous said...

That is sooooo coool!

Laurie said...

YEAH FINN!! You GO Buddy!!

Wendy P said...

Go Finn!!!! (Dang he's a fast crawler, though.)

Brandie said...

Push on Finn!! I think the chair gives him more stability and security than the walker. This is sooo exciting for you guys! Enjoy :)

diane rene said...

that is awesome! way to go, Finn :)

heidi marie said...

i wouldn't be so sure. henry shocked us when he started taking independent steps. he wasn't even taking one step and falling. then one night we decided to see what would happen if we try to get him to walk for a toy from the chair to the ottoman. one step and crash into the ottoman. we did it a few times and he was eventually doing multiple steps that night. we couldn't believe it.

Mel said...

Yay Finn! I think he is actually doing gymnastics in his room at night, and only letting you see once he feels like it- funny boy :) Luke chose to use a ride-on toy as his first push along. It had caster (?spelling)wheels so it would go in any direction he wanted, and it was quite low so he could kind of lean on it while he got his core stronger.

Lisa said...

YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY, FINN!!!!!!

And so it begins :)

MaggieMae said...

He so totally rocks! He'll be walking really soon and that's soon enough. To heck with the "walk-behinds". My guys never used them either (they do move too fast) and walked at 14 months. You've got a good gut-feeling.... go with it!

BTW -- OMG! on the ankle weights thing! That sounds like torture. our PT NEVER did anything like that with the boys. She just said let them hand-hold walk on a dynamic surface (so we bought them an 8' round trampoline and put it inside the house so they could use it ALL the time).

Congrats on your soon-to-be-walker!