12 Steps

No, not a recovery program. That’s Roni’s current record for steps taken in a row. She did that today — walking across the living room to get to John and Colin. (Ethan and I were at Ikea, so we missed it.) Tonight before dinner, she took another 10 steps in the kitchen. And she has been doing shorter “walks” all day long. I have a feeling it won’t be long now … her confidence is growing. 

Colin too is making leaps forward again. He is rapidly mastering the art of standing up (and more slowly mastering the art of getting back down again). He doesn’t do it “right,” which only poses a problem because his style for standing could stretch out the ligaments in his feet, which would make running and jumping (later) harder. 

As a result, we have switched gears in PT, and are helping Colin learn how to stand properly rather than focusing so much on sitting. We’re still trying to help him learn how to get into a sitting position, and spending a little time on getting out of sitting with a bit more grace (and fewer bumps to the head). But with Colin, you’ve really got to go where his interest lies, and right now that’s with standing.

Both babies are making progress in the communication department. Colin now signs “please” and “more” in addition to waving and doing high fives. He isn’t really speaking any words consistently, but he does make the full range of sounds so we’re not concerned about his speech (yet anyway). Veronica now says “uh oh” and “bye-bye” and has many signs (fan, please, banana, more, up, out, down … I really should make a list at some point). 

Colin’s insatiable curiosity and dogged persistence are running us ragged. When he’s awake, Colin is invariably trying to do something he’s not supposed to. I feel like every five minutes we’re having to pull him down from the shelves, or off the ledge under the table, or off the treadmill, or out of the kitchen cabinets. 

And two minutes later, he’s right back at it again. And again. And again. We’ve run out of gates to block things off. Maybe we’ll just buy a big cage … just kidding.