This might not look like much but this stage in Trudy’s development was huge for us! We never realised that the steps to walking were so subtle for a child with hypotonia. Every child goes through these, but usually at a rate of knots! Trudy has spent a long time at each stage, so long that we sometimes doubted she would ever move on. But she does, eventually and in her own time.
Trudy spent a long time being symmetrical, which is not the case for all children with Down’s Syndrome or hypotonia. She is a serious bum-shuffler but this meant that she was never placing both knees to one side in order to kneel. We stayed at the bum-shuffling stage for a long time and then one day she put both knees to one side and got up to kneeling. She can now do the twist you see in the photo. This will eventually get her to standing, then to walking.
We have learned to value each stage of development and understand that they cannot be rushed. Each stage has its own time and we all need to wait for her body to be ready to move onto the next one. The achievements are no longer in crawling or walking for the first time but moving onto the next step.
Trudy 