Joys of Growing Up

When your child has a disability, there are times when some activities become exciting.  Some of these activities happen much sooner in a typically developing child, and might not bring as much joy to a parents heart.  Over the last couple days we've had two of these activities happen.

We have been working on potty training for many, many years now with Zoe, with a little success.  So far there have been a few times when she has mentioned "potty" and we have taken her to the bathroom where she has been successful.  But there have been a lot more times when she has said that, but meant she already went. 

Friday during work I received a call from my wife.  She informed me Zoe told one of her teachers "potty" and her diaper was dry and she actually had to go.  This was a first and a very exciting moment.  Something might be catching on after many years.  Zoe got a lot of praise!

The other item that took place is something that can be very dangerous with a child who has issues walking.  No matter what we do, Zoe wants to do it as well.  The one thing she has been wanting to do on her own for the past year was walk up the stairs.  This has never been an option for us, and will be a concern for a few years still. 

However, over the past 2 weeks, Zoe has insisted she walks on her own and says "I do, I do, I do".  We have been very careful to hold on to her as she walks up 1 step at a time, holding on the the hand rail the whole time.  Well, the other day she had an issue with my wife holding on as she started up the first step, insisting she do it by herself.  With my wife standing close behind, Zoe took one step at a time and walked up the stairs on her own.  There were a couple of times she would have fallen back, but she still managed to do the whole flight of stairs, one by one.  Since that time, she has decided she wants to do it on her own when she can.  We will have to be behind her each time, and keep a very close watch on her every step, but some day she will be running up and down like any typically developing child!