Author: Dad

From Alan:

Hi Everyone,

I hope this note finds you all well after the first of the holidays is now past. We had a great day relaxing with mom and a few friends. We had turkey and all the fixin’s per Brianna’s request since she’s been studying Thanksgiving in school this fall – lots of hand turkeys on the frig!

I am also happy to say that this is the e-mail everyone’s been waiting and hoping for: a few weeks ago, right around Halloween, Brianna started walking!

As you can imagine we are very excited by this development. She is able to traverse short distances – from the door to the couch, across the kitchen or her playroom – in balanced and steady steps. This is real walking; not just controlled falling as she has done in the past. She is even able to skip a little as she goes by. She walks a little bit every day but we are careful not to push too hard lest she get injured again like in March.

It’s for this reason we’ve been holding off on sending out this note. We didn’t want to raise expectations only to see her new abilities come and go because of an injury or other factors. Her physical therapists (she has two) started her on forearm crutches this week and are very encouraged by her ability to grasp the concept of using her arms and legs together in a coordinated fashion.

As you’ll see in the video, she still has issues with spasticity bending her legs in ways that don’t promote a typical gate pattern but we have started Botox injections in calf muscles that should help alleviate some of this.

Every parent cherishes their child’s first steps (we just had to wait a little longer than most) so this is a major milestone for Karen and I, but mostly for Brianna. She no longer has to say she can’t walk because she can! Where this all leads as far as future ability goes is anyone’s guess but it is a great start. The younger she starts the farther she will be able to go since her body won’t stop developing for a long time.

Well, that about it for now. Everything else we have going on like painting the bedroom and getting ready for Christmas, etc. kind of pales in comparison to this news.

So, until we see you again, we hope that everyone has a great day and an even better Christmas!

Love to you all,

Allen, Karen & Brianna

PS – Brianna wanted to add something to this note so I put my journalism skills to work to quote her directly: “I love you so much Nanny and Papa. Bye.”

PPS – Click on the link (not the image) for better quality video (we’ve been trying for days to shoot a better one but someone’s 3 and 1/2!)

http://youtu.be/X_xlLxoUPbo