Henry did it.
Last February, Ms. Karen (Henry's physical therapist) gave Henry his walker. Watching Henry I have learned that the scripture is true: line upon line, precept upon precept. There is no skipping steps when it comes to learning to walk, especially when your muscles don't cooperate. When Henry was 22 months he started to slowly cruise round the couch, and then started to take steps while pushing toys around. We had a wide array of push/walker toys and Henry was unable to control them -- they would get away from him, and they just weren't doing the trick, so Ms. Karen finally brought in a real walker. As soon as she brought it in the house I knew it was a keeper. It was already a much better device than his toys, because from the first day Henry could stand and hold onto without it rolling away. He had some control. For the longest time it took the three of us (Henry, Ms. Karen, and I) working together to safely maneuver it. Henry definitely didn't love the new walker, but tolerated it during his PT sessions, and then it sat there like a piece of furniture during the week. I didn't know how to get him to want to use it, but Ms Karen kept telling us it would be great, he will be able to be independent, he will be able to walk around the house, play at the park with his friends, use it at church, and use it when he goes to preschool, he will be like his peers. I had hope of these visions, but was still a little skeptical on how this was really going to work.
And last Sunday, it happened. We took the walker to nursery at church, and Henry was independent, he wanted to use his walker. He is stronger, he has new braces for his legs. Mike was out of town and I had to teach our primary class, so we couldn't miss church. I knew I was going to have to pull out the stroller to get everyone inside, so I thought why not add the walker to this production. And I am glad that I did. We went downstairs to nursery, pulled out the walker, and Henry owned it. He walked right into nursery with his walker,and looked over his shoulder and said good bye. I was so proud. He did it. He was independent. I checked in on him and the teachers said that he had been using his walker the whole time. In the past we would take the walker with us places, and he would use it once and then abandon it, and the other kids would use it and honk the horn, and Henry could care less. But not this time, it was his. I was so proud. When it was time to pick him up, one of the teachers said Henry did great all day, but he had just barely been pushed down during bubbles. Henry came straight toward me using his walker with tears rolling down his face. I wanted to snatch him up right then, but I let him walk to me. I knew he was proud of his accomplishment too. I scooped him up and hugged him, and with tears in our eyes we shifted through the unsteady waves of people coming to collect their children, unaware of the great accomplishment that had just happened.
I am so proud.
