Friday, 3 August 2012

Walking Part 2

OK, so I posted a quick blog earlier today because I was bursting with pride and had to show off my little video of Felix walking. Now I'll tell you all about it!

These feet were made for walking!
For a while now Felix has been cruising around the furniture; and when I say cruising, I mean super fast and very confidently. He's always been very determined and if there was something on one side of the coffee table that he really wanted, you can bet he would get around to the other side in no time. Recently he has been taking the odd step here and there from one person to another. This is something Isaiah (14) and Aaron (12) have really encouraged Felix to do. Once again, I'm reminded of how instrumental Felix's older siblings have been to his development. They are incredible with him!

For the last couple of days, Felix has increased his one or two steps to four or five. Yesterday, he just wanted to keep doing it; backwards and forwards between his siblings. Mel (Joel's girlfriend) came out to see what all the fuss was about (there was much cheering and clapping coming from the lounge room), so Felix started taking a few steps between her and Joel. Joel decided to trick Felix a little bit so he held out his hands to him as he walked towards him, but then Joel kept moving back from Felix so he had to walk even further. In the end he walked fourteen steps!! I was so glad I was able to capture it on video.

It must have been the confidence boost Felix needed because, not only did he continue to take lots of steps, but he also started standing up from the floor without pulling himself up on anything. He did that for the first time a long time ago but he rarely did it after that. Funnily enough, the times he did stand without hanging on to anything, he was on our bed on top of the soft mattress which actually made it harder. Typical Felix to do things his own way!

Clever little man!
I think we get more and more excited with each milestone Felix reaches. Seriously... having a child with Down Syndrome is the greatest! We wait so much longer for Felix to do things than we did with our other kids, but when he does something new it is the most euphoric feeling. I even told a lady, working the checkout, at the shop today that Felix was walking (and he wasn't even with me). I told her that he is 22 months old, is so clever walking.... Oh! and he has Down Syndrome. By the time I had finished raving on, she was excited as well. I'm glad she picked up on my excitement but even more, I'm glad that our conversation showed her that I'm proud of my incredible little boy, who just happens to have an extra chromosome.

I'm not sure how long it will be before Felix is walking all the time; at the moment crawling is still so much faster. He is going to be a page boy in a wedding in just under two months time, so time will tell whether he will be walking or crawling down the aisle. For now we'll enjoy one beautiful day at a time filled with lots of clapping and cheering. We're all looking forward to seeing what extra mischief Felix will get himself into now that he's much more mobile.

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