Guest Post - Luke Learns to Walk

Lovely Little Luke

Henrietta shares her thoughts as a loving Mum on encouraging her son Luke to meet his milestones, and celebrates his new walking skills. 

We all want the best for our children and sometimes it's difficult not to worry, but they all get wherever they are going in their own time. We look forward to following Luke's amazing progress. 

Luke Learns to Walk

It's been an epic journey. Last February Luke started standing. He had recently mastered crawling and here he was onto the next task.  He was on two feet and holding onto my legs. Wow I thought he will be walking before my birthday in mid March - what an excellent present.

At 15 months this will be smack in the middle of regular milestones. According to my chart, children with Down's syndrome don't usually start walking until after they are two. Genius I thought, stroking my Tiger Mother ego. Easter came and went. Luke's crawling got super speedy, he learnt to climb up stairs.... and come down again.  

Summer was the next goal. Lots of long days outside, great for perfecting perambulation. I told his Tumble Tots teachers that since he would definitely be walking before the new term he would of course be able to graduate to the next class, the appropriately named 'Walking to Two'.

Well in September he was taking the first few steps and then falling flat on his face, but it was not walking. I still put him up a gym class never the less. He still prefered crawling or what we called the Baloo Walk - with palms and feet flat on the floor and arms and legs straight. I fretted to the physio but in sessions he would became increasingly shy. The more I pushed the more he resisted.

Then finally in December ... whoosh, he began walking across the room, and then from one room to the next. Luke was walking before he was two. Yippee!

Between 10 and 11 months Poppy learnt to stand, take her first steps, walk, run, go up and downstairs. I really can't remember with Matilda, it was later but again she learnt all those skills together. I know better than comparing children, particularly if one has additional needs. But at the same time it's not always easy to control your subconscious.

                         

So as he runs into 2014, Luke's next challenge is to start talking.