Additional Needs

Reaching New Heights

Posted by Brittney Baumgartner on 24th March 2017 Additional Needs, Disabilities

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We started small and without much motivation, managing to make it up to his knees before giving in.

Then we graduated to a full upright standing position that he pulled into from the ground to the coffee table.

Funny enough, the same motivation that sparked his interest to crawl was the same to get him to stand. Candy. (Whatever works, right?)

The thing about my son is most of his strength used for standing, comes from his arms.

That is where he puts most of his weight and definitely is what he uses to pull up since he is paralyzed from the knees down. This is where it gets scary for momma.

He has taken a few slips of the hands or feet and tumbled chin first into the table, or if we got somewhat lucky he just landed softly onto his playmats.

It’s also pretty worrisome now that I have to worry about what is in reach of his little hands. He has never got into anything he wasn't suppose to, but I know it can and probably will happen one day.

Despite the frightening possibilities that can come from him standing, I have embraced it with open arms.

After all, it was something the doctors’ said he would never be able to do.

It kind of makes you want to send a lovely little video to them and say, “in your face!” (;

Now that we have achieved this awesome step towards walking, we are able to use our Upsee without a hassle.

When we received the Upsee earlier this year, Oliver showed no interest in standing and wasn't gaining much from being in the contraption.

I can tell such a difference now, from him bearing more of his own weight all the way to initiating his own steps.

With the awesome help from one of Firefly’s therapists, we were even presented with activities that could improve Oliver’s experience and weight bearing in the Upsee.

Such activities included helping mommy put dishes away, having him color on a table, or even going with me outside to get the mail.

What a gift it is now, to hear my little man saying he wants to go outside and walk with his mommy.

When we received Oliver’s diagnosis, as I mentioned above, the doctor’s shared what we might expect and not expect.

Anything physical was not high on the possible list. Sadly, it was all we knew to believe from these medical professionals so we did not expect it.

Although delayed substantially compared to any other child his age, our son did end up hitting these milestones.

Oliver learned how to sit on his own at one year. He learned how to crawl by the time he was 1 1/2 years old.

We are here now, almost three, and are pulling to stand!

We still don't live to expect anything from our boy, whatever he gives us we will love, but with the awesome therapy and devices out there we are constantly surprised with what he is able to do!

This little boy of mine is reaching new heights with help from all over.