John is walking

Yesterday was John's big day! It has been so interesting to me to observe the developmental paths of 3 kids the exact same age. John was baby A. He was always the biggest during the pregnancy and was the first to come home by 4 weeks.

At 4 months they were all evaluated to determine if they met the qualifications of Georgia's early intervention program, Babies Can't Wait. He was the only one that didn't qualify. He was actually ahead of where he needed to be when you adjusted by his "due date". At 11 weeks early, he was doing great.

It has been really hard for me not to compare their skill sets. So far it's been easy to see their personality differences and appreciate them as individuals. Since John didn't get physical therapy (PT) in the beginning, he slipped behind Lauren and Tyler. Having so many little ones at once puts individual time in jeopardy. And since most parents aren't trained in developmental issues, doing the right things to advance them is hit or miss.

Being a 29 weeker puts you behind the curve a bit. Everything we have read indicates that they should be caught up by age 2. I'm pretty confident that will be the case for all three. But for a while John slipped in his gross motor skills. We had him evaluated again, he qualified for the program and has been getting therapy. Wow what a difference!

Yesterday was therapy day. We were waiting on Marla (physical therapist) to arrive and big brother Austin decided to give John a big bear hug from behind and stand him up. John got this huge grin on his face and just took off. He took about 6 good steps!

In the blink of an eye, we went from three crawlers to three beginning walkers and it won't be long at all before we'll have them running through the grass in the back yard. In anticipation of some backyard play, we're in the market for a swing set.