October 27th- Eli and Katie

“Kids with Down Syndrome are often delayed when it comes to milestones. But Eli was a gross motor rock star as a baby. Rolling at 4 months, sitting at 7 months, pulling to stand and cruising at 13 months.

But crawling? He refused. He would not get onto his hands and knees. During his Early Intervention physical therapy sessions, I would hold him suspended above the floor while the PT attempted to move his arms and legs in some sort of semblance of crawling and Eli did his best to levitate his limbs off the floor. I’m sure we looked ridiculous. This went on for over half a year.

When Eli was 17 months old, we went to visit my husband’s family. Eli has triplet cousins who are a few months younger than he is, and they were crawling all over the place. One day, when everyone else was in another part of the house, I secretly watched Eli independently pull himself onto his hands and knees. He put one hand out, then the other, then shuffled his legs forward, and then just took off crawling across the room. There was no hesitation, no stumbling, no learning beyond those few seconds. By the next day he was crawling full time and about a month later started walking.

Eli does things in his own time. As much as I plan, research, hope, and worry, it all depends on him. He will get there eventually. It’s been a life lesson in loving with all my heart, and prepetually wishing I could do more to prepare him for the world, and at the same time letting go and trusting. Trusting in Eli, that yes, he will eventually be able to do many things for himself. And trusting that when he can’t, there will always be others out there who will also help him along the way.”

– Katie, mom to Eli

Eli enjoys going to Destination Discovery, Family Fun Night and Busy Hands, Bigger Plans at GiGi’s Playhouse Fox Valley.