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11.19.2010

Spending time on our knees

A couple of days ago while checking out of Wal-Mart, Reni was distracted by the loud banging of a lady building a display for Christmas products. For conversation, I mentioned to the cashier that it sounded like the builder would feel better after taking out her frustrations on the shelving unit. The cashier smiled and said, "Maybe, but when I am frustrated I hit my knees instead of a hammer." After agreeing, I left Wal-Mart smiling and thanking God for the reminder of how important it is to have 'knee time' daily!

Reni is getting more and more 'knee time' but in a different way. Most children learn to walk by first spending weeks if not months mastering balance through standing, but even when he is not in his prosthetics, Reni is trying hard to 'walk' before he can 'stand.' This desire for vertical mobility seemed to coincide with getting his prosthetics as he would bounce up out of a crawl and rapidly take a few steps on his knees before falling back into a crawl. He sort of looked like a young boy trying to master the wheelie on his bicycle. At first he barely made a step or two, but soon he was hitting 5 or 6 steps before returning his hands to the ground (or sometimes ending up sitting down). One thing was constant, and that was speed. The faster he moved his little legs, the longer he could stand up and the farther he could go, but he really wasn't gaining much stability. Reni's physical therapist has encouraged us to help him practice standing and balance, and I think some of those exercises are starting to pay off!

Tonight his knee walking has started to change. His 'standing' is more deliberate and less simply bouncing up, and while he still is pretty speedy in his 'walking' he is showing more balance and control. He is progressing so fast that I was afraid that if I didn't record this stage he would be gallivanting around fully and we would miss the transition.

Below are two short videos I shot from my phone. My guess is that by Christmas he will have this mode of transportation basically mastered.




2 comments:

Jan said...

Wow, he's growing up so fast! Where did the baby go, he looks like a little boy!

Aunt Ruth said...

Bravo Reni!! We ae so proud of you!! We love Ellie's comment after Reni "said" her name!! God bless your precious family.