Learning to Walk: Baby Steps

It was a Wednesday (yesterday to be exact). I helped her stand and she took a few steps in my direction without assistance. It was so unexpected that I didn't know how to react. Then it clicked what just happened. I yelled "MATT! Did you just see that? She took her first steps!" To make it even more special, she took the steps in the same park her father and I got married in 2 years and 10 months ago.

To give you some context, Olive, our daughter, is 18 months old. She was born 14 weeks early and that was after 6 weeks of not having any amniotic fluid to help aide her development in the womb. She never took a bottle and is still learning to eat by mouth. She has been dependent on a tube for her entire life to feed her. When she took a porkchop out of my hand recently and began chewing on it- I nearly cried with joy. 

We knew it would take her longer for certain developmental milestones, and to be honest, it has given me the perspective that we expect a lot out of our babies. It is okay if it takes a little longer to walk, to potty train or to eat. The important thing is that we are consistently encouraging them. 

As of two days later, it seems she has decided she does not even remember taking these steps, but I haven't forgotten. And I am so so proud of her.