Look Who's Walking Now!

My kids are not early walkers.  Not by any means.  I thought Joey would never walk.  He was 16 months old by the time he was vertically mobile.  I thought Olivia and Katelyn would be different.  I thought having an older sibling would make them want to get up on their feet and walk around.  I was wrong.  Olivia has been a cautious learner when it comes to walking, and she wasn't taking any steps until she was absolutely sure she could do it.  She learned to pull her tiny self up to a stand a loooong time ago, and she was able to stand by herself around 12 months, but she just started walking full-time about a month ago. (at 15 months old) 

Katelyn has been a different story altogether.  She wants to walk.  She tries to walk.  She LOVES to walk.  But she has terrible coordination and balance.  She flops forward after just a couple of steps and has done quite a bang-up job on her knees in the process.  I've actually been worried about Katelyn because of her odd stance and peculiar way of sitting.  To make a long story short, Katelyn is a "W sitter," which means that instead of turning her knees in to sit with her legs "criss-crossed," her knees and hips are turned out with her feet on either side of her.  Sometimes this is called "frog sitting."  Unfortunately for Katelyn, sitting this way has left her with weakened core muscles, and turned out her hips quite a bit.  That makes it difficult for her to stand up unsupported and walk unassisted.  Don't worry, it's not as terrible as it sounds... At her 15 month visit the doctor and I agreed that we would wait until she was 18 months to pursue any kind of physical therapy in hopes that she would correct herself and begin steadily walking within the next 3 months.  Since that visit (roughly 6 weeks ago) I've seen very little progress, and have even contemplated calling to set up a physical therapy consult.  Until tonight.

I'm super proud to say that I finally feel like my girl is getting it.  She still has a very awkward stance with her feet spaced wiiiiiiiide apart, but she can make it across the room by herself, and has even stopped to steady herself in between steps.  She also corrects her "W sitting" quite a bit, even rewarding herself by saying "good girl" when she puts her feet in front like she's supposed to.

Here are a couple of funny pics of my silly Katie-bug practicing walking tonight:

And one more, just to show off her curls: