18 MONTHS AND 3 DAYS

18 Months and 3 Days.  18 MONTHS AND 3 DAYS! 

That is how long we have been waiting for Elle to take her first steps. I have started so many posts on Elle not walking it is crazy but I have always stopped myself. I am not sure why.  It just seemed really personal.  

If you have read this blog for a while you know that Elle was five weeks early.  She saw a physical therapist consistently for 7 months for a little bit of motor skill delay and some torticollis and then the therapist, Kenny and I all decided that Elle seemed to have "caught up" so we stopped going.

In hindsight, we should of continued to see the therapist.  Elle did not crawl until after a year old and then it was on her belly. So, late. Then she graduated to crawling on her knees and she is really really good at it.  People comment on how fast she is all the time.  Her poor little knees stay permanently bruised from her primary mode of getting around.

Around the end of May (16 months) she started pulling up and cruising a little bit. Really late. Our pediatrician had TEIS (Tennessee Early Intervention Services) contact us.  They evaluated Elle and did not find that she was behind in anything but motor skills and she did not qualify. It was around that same time that I got in touch with a girl I knew from college who had also treated Elle in the NICU and we started seeing her weekly for physical therapy again.  Just having her teach me things to do to help Elle build up her muscles and learn new skills that will help her walk has helped so much.  Morgan, our PT diagnosed Elle with some low muscle tone so she needed "work outs" to help her build up her strength. 

I should note that her motor skill delay is her only area of delay.  She is completely fine with language and fine motor skills.  Just this silly walking.  We kept saying to ourselves "well we know she won't crawl into kindergarten. She'll walk one day."

And then yesterday, at her 18 month check up, Elle took her first steps in the well baby room waiting to see the doctor!  I was so excited! She was so excited! Morgan just happened to have a session yesterday afternoon and so she took this video so I could send it to Kenny to see along with everyone else to has heard me complain talk and talk about Elle not being able to walk.

We still have a long way to go before Elle is toddling all over the place (who knows when she will run or skip or hop)  but these first few steps were such a long time coming that we are just so happy for her!!