For most kiddos, it seems like one day they realize they can walk and they just do. I remember September 13, 2007, Zuzu took off and while the exact number of days it was from step one to full time stepping is fuzzy- I do know that it was days.

The Quail took her  first independent step the day after her second birthday. We weren’t really sure what to expect in terms of how long it would be until we had a fulltime stepper. Some fellow moms in the Ds community had reported an average of about 5 months. For kiddos with Down syndrome and more importantly- hypotonia, it’s not just a matter of wanting to walk or realizing they can. The average age for walking ranges from 2-3 years of age. There is a series of  functions in the brain involving motor-planning and a day-by-day physical therapy of building a good strong core to keep you up involved. Thursday, May 19, I picked our girl up and her teachers commented that she had spent a good portion of the day on two feet, without holding on to anything. Sure enough over the course of the weekend her confidence  shown through and she spent the weekend more frequently on two legs then down on all four.

Way to go Quail! Way to fly! Now, where’s that kid leash we had for Zuzu….

Our bird’s taken to this rather quickly. I was going to wait to potty train until August when she moves into Miss Christil’s class at school. She does an intensive potty training and it’s one of the biggest perks of our girls going to that school! Plus the Quail isn’t steady on her feet fulltime yet- so it seemed like she wouldn’t be developmentally ready. And her lil legs didn’t touch the ground on that first potty we were using from Zuzu’s training days. Lovey wanted to get the potty out and try though. I figured it couldn’t hurt. What she had going for her was the fact that most nights she stays dry and has for sometime. If you go to her when she hollars you find a dry dipe on the girl. That and it was not uncommon at tubby time in the evening for us to “get got” in the time between when we took off her diaper and got her physically in the tubby. Well we got it out and put her on it pre-tubby. She went potty (I’m still thinking that first few times were sheer luck on our part of when we happened to put her on the potty). We signed potty, her sister wrote her out a potty chart (and made a matching one for herself) and we pulled out a cupboard of stickers and let her choose which one each time she pee-peed. Well the second time we set her on the potty, she did her business, then pointed to it and declared rather nonchalantly, “Right there.” She chose her sticker and we were on our way. The next few times as soon as she peed she declared, “Ticker!” and pointed to where the stickers were. Then that weekend lo-and-behold- out came Mr. Poo-poo. In the meantime the girl couldn’t get more attention from her big sister if she tried. Zuzu was in her glory explaining the process of, pee in little potty, put your diaper in the trash, dump pee-pee in big potty, shut the lid, flush, lift the lid to wave bye-bye to your pee-pee and choose a sticker to then put on your chart. We’re only doing it morning and night right now- so we’re keeping it low pressure. I remember Zuzu loving it initially and then once the shine wore off hating it with all her might. We’re prepared for that possibility- but for now we’re just too stinkin darn proud of our Potty Princess’ Prowess! Pun intended. Go Birdy go!

I am dreadfully behind on my crowing over this dear girl.

Since the last update on what she’s up to so much has happened and every single time I go to write about it something comes up and I make a note, look at the length and sheer volume of things I need to document, get overwhelmed and decide to come back to it later. I’m talking 2 months worth of grand hoopla!

So this is a little promise to be back soon with more detailed descriptions and high-lights from the Quail’s days that include grand things like:

*her ability to heft an 8 pound bowling ball down the lane

*her baby steps become more steady and independant

*her added vocabulary both in sign and song

*her cruising mania

*her terrible teething troubles that have 16 confirmed and in place

*her super baby oral-motor strength and coordination that allowed her to eat her first piece of pizza and chicken nugget like the rest of the rock-stars in her class

* her first pee-pee in the potty on 3/21/11, and the subsequent pee-pee and poo-poo adventures which include an already full sticker chart, the additions to her vocabulary of potty and sticker, attempts to undress herself, her clear indications of where the pee-pee is (Right there!) and waves to the extrements as they swirl away…

*her playground bullying…don’t be alarmed…she’s the uberbaby in these stories, not the underdog. Ain’t nobody puttin this baby in a corner!

*her rock-star scoring on her most recent HELP assessment which blew itself off of its’ developmental curve with huge leaps to another curve in cognition and social/emotional. Who would have ever guessed that my baby who has Down syndrome would have the same cognitive functioning as other babies who don’t who are only a couple of months younger and have the social-emotional equivalent of a 23-31 month old. Stereotypes be-damned.

Much,much more to come and pictures galore…but for now this glimpse will have to do….

and 3 in a row for our dear Quail!!!! Today, the day after her second birthday we came home to an extremely energetic bird. Monique was over for speech therapy and we remembered that the Quail hadn’t shown off her new stand up and plop down trick. So after a few rounds Monique asked if we had tried holding out her favorite-do-anything-for-a-fruitloop treat to see if she would take a few steps over to us to get it…and sure enough! She crawled for icecream and walked for fruitloops- I see a huge ice cream sundae in that girls future! Way to go Abi-quail! We’re so proud! Watch it for yourself here. Technically that’s not the actual first step. She got a set of 3 in before we got the camera recording. All the better- she did it more than once! Did I say already how proud we are!?!?!?!?

So Saturday was a BIG day in our house. Check it.

One step for mankind...

…and a few dozen for this little rockstar! I may very well keep crowing about this all week. Please excuse me, but I am sooooooooooooo incredibly proud of our little bird! Last night, I got out the contraption that I had devised and thought might be a brilliant walking tool when the time was right and lo and behold…it worked! I put a couple of small hand weights into a cooler we have. It’s about 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide. The perfect height for the girl to pull up on and then use to stabilize herself as she walks. All the walking toys, she’s not ready for them yet, they fall over when she tries to pull up on them and if we help her up, the slightest push causes them to fly out from under her. Even my spiffy Plan Toy Walker that I was certain would be brilliant because you could adjust the tension on the wheels. For right now, having this big heavy, but not too heavy box is perfect. She pushed it all the way down and back our hallway before plopping down!!!!!

I’m tickled as pink as those little Garanimal hi-top sneakers she’s sportin these days!

1….2….3….4….5….6…. count em! 6 assisted steps!!!!!!!!! I am thrilled. It happened Saturday while she was on stage after her Santa visit at the Down Syndrome Family Alliance Christmas Party!  Soooooo incredibly proud of her. Maybe Santa whispered in her ear while she was screaming at him. Or maybe she felt like rocking the wild piggies atop her noggin. Most likely it was the pink-hi-topped-Garanimal-pseudo-Chuck’s-shoes. Either or any-way- she’s on her way! I had asked her to stand up and she grabbed my hands and when I told her to come here- get this….she did!

Sweet baby girl….