My Late Walker
Submitted by AMDMommy
My daughter was a super early talker, an early roller-overer, an early crawler... I don't want to brag, but her pediatrician called her "brilliant" at her one-year check up because she had such an extensive vocabulary. (Should I alert the media? Maybe we should start teaching her French?) Okay, maybe I do want to brag-the truth is, I was quite proud of how advanced she was! So it never occurred to me that she wouldn't be advanced at everything.
Then, her first birthday came... and went... and my little miracle still wasn't walking. By 13 months she wasn't even standing on her own. Was something wrong? Was my kid ever going to walk? I started to get nervous. It didn't help that my friends' kids had all been zooming around on two legs for months. Meanwhile, mine was still crawling around eye-level with the cats.
To make it worse, random people were constantly asking how old she was only to then say, "Is she walking yet?" (No, but thanks for stressing me out about it!) Relatives would call and ask for a report on her status. And my neighbor regaled me with the story of her daughter walking on her first birthday... every time I bumped into her! I just wanted to scream, "Butt out! She'll walk when she walks people!!" But truth be told, the delay was worrying me.
Then one day it just happened. We were all sitting in her room and suddenly she just stood up and walked! She lurched her little body forward and teetered across the room to me like a drunken sailor. I was never so proud to see someone bob and weave like a party girl in stilettos after a few too many margaritas in my life! And in that moment of pride, it only took me a second to realize how silly I was to stress over it all those months. I mean, how many 30-year-old crawlers do you know?
To make it worse, random people were constantly asking how old she was only to then say, "Is she walking yet?" (No, but thanks for stressing me out about it!) Relatives would call and ask for a report on her status. And my neighbor regaled me with the story of her daughter walking on her first birthday... every time I bumped into her! I just wanted to scream, "Butt out! She'll walk when she walks people!!" But truth be told, the delay was worrying me.
Then one day it just happened. We were all sitting in her room and suddenly she just stood up and walked! She lurched her little body forward and teetered across the room to me like a drunken sailor. I was never so proud to see someone bob and weave like a party girl in stilettos after a few too many margaritas in my life! And in that moment of pride, it only took me a second to realize how silly I was to stress over it all those months. I mean, how many 30-year-old crawlers do you know?
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