31 for 21: Gross Motor Skills (13)

Up until the time Colin walked, his gross motor development has always been delayed.  However, one thing his old physical therapist used to say to us was that in the time he was learning the skills, he always learned to do them the correct way.  For example, it took Colin a long time to learn how to sit independently, but when he did, he had such great posture in doing so.  He sat up so straight and never slouched over once he learned.  He has been receiving physical therapy services now since he was just over 1 month old and throughout all of these years, he has had a bit of a stubborn streak when it came to the really challenging tasks that were physically demanding.  Even recently, his PT at school reached out to us because he was not always compliant when it came to the hard tasks.  We suggested using some motivators that short video clips or pictures which has been working.  We have found lately that now that he has been becoming increasingly independent, even if it is a challenging task, he will want to try (with help if needed) to do whatever task it is (especially if it's what everyone else is doing).  

Today at our friend's house, he really wanted to go down the slide but to do so, he needed to climb the "rock wall" in order to get to the top.  He had been working on it the last time we were there, but today we caught him trying until he got up all by himself.  

We were so proud of him that he was able to do this task independently, especially because it requires a lot of strength from different parts of his body to successfully do it.  

In post-learning how to walk years, we have seen him fly through different skills with more ease.  He has now learned how to run pretty quickly and enjoys to do so (when we go to the Special Olympics Young Athlete program he would much rather run around as though he were racing than do other activities).  He is also really into jumping lately and is gaining more confidence jumping from different heights (which makes us a bit more nervous).  We are so proud of his new found independence, especially when it comes to trying new things and trying them until he is able to successfully complete the task.  

Today he put on Daddy's shoes to "go running and get wet (sweaty)".  He was even trying to get out the door to go just like we do.  

...and just for fun, my little pumpkins in the pumpkin patch today.  Good times with great friends (but more to come on that later!).