Friday, March 11, 2005

Dova walks

Every parent waits impatiently for their baby to take their first steps. But then when it happens they lament that their baby has turned into a toddler! We waited patiently for Dova to walk and finally she decided to the day before Valentines. Of course we gauged everything against when Adam hit all his milestones like all parents do but shouldn't, but since he seemed to crawl so late, we thought it was safe to go by that timetable.

At Adam's 9 month checkup, I thought everything was going fine, until I had to answer No to all the physical milestone questions. Does he crawl? Can he get to a sitting position? Can he support himself on hands and knees? Can he pull up? Can he clap? All no. The only thing he did was sit without support. But 3 days before he turned 10 months, he finally figured out how to get to a sitting position by pushing back with his hands, and then the next day he was crawling. A week later he pulled himself up to standing in the crib. For walking, Adam took his first few steps a week after his birthday. He continued taking 2 or 3 steps for about 3 weeks. Then at 13 months, he finally figured out how to stand up from the middle of the floor and his walking took off. He would get on both hands and feet and push back with his hands until he stood up. Two weeks later, walking was his main mode of transportation. He was very unsteady at first, and used to walk with his arms up in the air for balance like Frankenstein. They say that is usually quick from the first few steps until full fledged walking, but Adam took nearly a month and a half for that. Not so quick and lots of falls in there.

So we expected the same of Dova, but then it happened completely differently. She failed all the same physical milestone questions at 9 months, but this time I said, "I'm not worried." At 10 months and a couple of weeks, she started crawling like a commando on her elbows and knees, but didn't learn to get to a sitting position until 2 weeks later when she pulled up to standing (it was basically pull up to the knees and then sit). There was a month of commando crawling before she was strong enough to do the standard hands and knees crawling. Then at 13 months, we waited patiently for her to take her first steps and was wondering if she would be able during her 13th month like Adam did. She would take one step, then immediately drop down to crawl. Of course we weren't worried this time, just wondering when it would happen. Then at 13 months and 2 1/2 weeks, she stood up and walked across the room!! Not just a few steps, like 9 or 10, and she was holding two things in her hands as well (incentive perhaps). Then about 5 minutes later she did it again. Two weeks later, she was a full fledged walker, no Frankenstein walking for her!! And when she stood up from the middle of the floor, she simply put her foot down in front of her and pushed straight up. We are so proud of course.

No comments :