What's Ace up to?

Ace's confidence with his walking seems to have diminished quite a bit since Thanksgiving. It's only been the past few days that it's been picking back up.

Yesterday, I was crazy mean to him. For some reason, when he has both of his canes, he doesn't want to move - just looks around, checks out the ladies, doesn't do anything. When he only has one, he'll walk. So when we got to school, I gave him one cane and put the other about 10 feet in front of him. He started hollering at me - "WANT YOUR CAAAANE MAAMAAAAA" - but while hollering, he hobbled to his other cane, grabbed it, then stopped. So I did it again. "WANT YOUR CAAAANNNNEEE MMMAAAMAAAA" CLUMP *shuffle shuffle shuffle* CLUMP *shuffle shuffle shuffle* CLUMP *shuffle shuffle shuffle* CLUMP. (The cane makes loud noises when he smacks it on the ground. He likes that.)

15 minutes later, we were at the door. It's only about 50 feet away from the parking spot. Wowza.

He's off of school on Fridays and goes to physical therapy Friday mornings. When we got to the hospital (where his PT is), I only got one cane out of the car. I brought him inside from the parking garage and set him down. CLUMP *shuffle shuffle shuffle* CLUMP *shuffle shuffle shuffle* CLUMP all the way to the PT office... probably about 200 feet.

I thought I was proud then...

So I've been banished from the PT sessions. I apparently help too much - I pick him up when he falls (he's supposed to get himself back up) and I jump up and rush to his aid when he starts to fall (he's supposed to just fall so he can get balance). It's a maternal instinct - I can't help it. I told my mom all this and she laughingly called me an enabler. (She's an addiction counselor.)

I sat outside and read the paper for a couple of minutes and had to peek in to see what he was doing. That kid walked clear across the therapy room, which is a good 30 feet long, with no assistance. *sigh* Turned around and did it again.

When his session was over, he walked out into the waiting room - about 20 feet. Then he walked from my chair to the door - another 10 feet. From the door to the elevator - another 30 feet. Elevator to chairs - 20 feet. Chairs to door - 10 feet. I let him use his cane after that, because it'd taken us 20 minutes to get that far. Took another 10 minutes to get to the car. I'm not a patient person - this is a very serious test of will for me.

This makes me a little frustrated, while at the same time being extremely happy. He WILL NOT do this stuff for me and Drew. He'll walk a little bit back and forth, but under no circumstances can we just put him down and expect him to walk 30 feet. He completely refuses. It wasn't like his PT was standing behind him helping him balance every few feet - she just set him down and walked away. Never touched him.

That's it - I'm over him crawling. He will not be crawling anymore at home. I refuse. If the kid can do this stuff when I'm not around, I'll be doggoned if he won't do it while I am around. He's a stubborn kid, FOR SURE, but I'm still more stubborn.

For now, we're gonna go outside to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and get some fresh air.