A Dream Come True

This morning, we took Olivia for her IT evaluation. We really didn't hear anything unexpected. Here's the summary: Fine Motor- borderline, Cognitive- lower limits of borderline, Receptive communication- Moderate delay, Expressive communication- Severe Delay. Again, nothing surprising. We are keeping PT, changing OT, adding speech back (speech only came once in the fall and said she would be back if O still wasn't talking in Feb), and adding a pyschologist to help with developmental stuff.

Now for the wonderful news! Tonight, our PT Jeanine brought a set of parallel bars made of PVC pipe, borrowed from another family to try out so we can build our own. It has a full length mirror at the end. Jeanine stood Olivia up at one end, showed O where to put her hands, put her own hands in front of her hips to catch her if she started falling, and Olivia WALKED FIVE FEET- FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER BY HERSELF!! She walked the full length three times back to back before showing signs of fatigue, and Jeanine only had to help her a couple of times by catching her when she leaned too far forward. I was in awe. Amazed. Overwhelmed with joy. She took a five minute break and then walked the length two more times. (She loves the reflection of that cute baby in the mirror!) Jeanine said Olivia did tonight what she expected would take a month to accomplish.

Some PVC pipe and a mirror... simple things that made an extraordinary dream come true.