E and A with their fancy Plume pencils
After that we went back to A's house for lunch and a playdate. A's mom and I got to chatting, when we both noticed the house was strangely quiet. All the kids were upstairs--we caught E more than halfway up the steps! That was a close one...E cannot (or, has not yet) been able to do the stairs at our house independently (while standing up and ascending, anyway--she can "crawl" up them). E had gone up the stairs at A's house all by herself, standing the whole way (at least, that's what she told me). The difference is 1) they have a wall banister, while we have vertical rails that E holds, and 2) the banister is on the right side, while ours is on the left. On one hand, I am really proud of Elena for being so independent. On the other, I am extremely thankful her stair adventure didn't end poorly.
After A's house, we went home to rest. We had dinner guests over, some friends from college who have a 20-month old son J. J and Viv had so much fun running around outside after dinner--and E even did some, too! She walked on our grass (which admittedly is a little tall right now) 18 steps! That's a new record! The three kids played all around the little swingset and got nice and tired. I think (and hope) E will continue to be more independent outside.
On Sunday, E and I went to yoga--she is really doing much better standing during class. She still needs support to stand, but I need to support her much less than I used to. I like yoga b/c it helps us to incorporate large, purposeful arm movements--we spend all our time on her legs, her upper body largely gets ignored. In general, E's arm movements are contracted--she doesn't usually extend them all the way up or out (she can, though).
After my soccer game, Jason met me at the park with the kids. E used the swing for a while, then went to the playset--she took 34 steps, on mulch, independently, and got there herself! I filmed it, but had to race over when she started to approach a fall hazard. Here's the clip anyway, to give you an idea of the terrain and how she looks while walking--sorry for the interruption!
Wowza!
After going to home to rest, we headed over to a special attraction--a free carousel, set up for a week on our local pedestrian mall. The kids loved it (especially Vivian).
2 comments:
Wow, she's so great! That is fantastic! And yes, it's a good thing that the stairs didn't end badly, but also, GO E! for believing she could do it herself and going for it!
Awesome news! I am impressed with that independence, even if it is risky. What a girl!
I'll be emailing you to swap addresses for that birthday mail.
Post a Comment