We had the most amazing day! Ryan took what I'll call his "first steps." I'll apologize in advance to my other children, but these moments were better than my other children's first steps.
If you're only going to watch one video, this next one is the ONE to watch.
What you didn't see in that amazing video is that he actually picked up his right leg all by himself and lifted it up over the box. The box is filled with white Styrofoam peanuts, which he apparently really enjoyed touching. He also "walked" all the way across the box and made his way to the other side. I wasn't really sure what he was wanting when he got there. We tried turning him around. I tried offering him the choice between the Styrofoam peanuts and the river rocks, but he didn't really seem to want either. We eventually turned him toward the river rocks. He spent time hovering with one foot in the peanuts and one foot on the rocks, seemingly comparing the two.
If you're one of the people who've wondered how much Ryan thinks, let me assure you: he was making choices today. Not only did he obviously know where he wanted to go, but he seemed to know how to make his legs help him get there. It was awkward motion, but he did it. And, yes, I cried. I've never seen my 5 year old son take a step, and today I saw him lift his leg over a box to move himself into the box. Yes, I cried. And, I've watched the video more than a dozen times now.
I've skipped a lot of the in between stuff, even though Tami was so awesome at taping every single moment of our hour. Later, he made his way back to me. At first I thought he was telling me he was all done, but then he started hugging me. Well, I'll just let you watch this ...
If you're one of the people who've wondered how much Ryan thinks, let me assure you: he was making choices today. Not only did he obviously know where he wanted to go, but he seemed to know how to make his legs help him get there. It was awkward motion, but he did it. And, yes, I cried. I've never seen my 5 year old son take a step, and today I saw him lift his leg over a box to move himself into the box. Yes, I cried. And, I've watched the video more than a dozen times now.
I've skipped a lot of the in between stuff, even though Tami was so awesome at taping every single moment of our hour. Later, he made his way back to me. At first I thought he was telling me he was all done, but then he started hugging me. Well, I'll just let you watch this ...
I think he was sharing his joy with me. What do you think?
