He also started holding his own bottle and pulling himself up to sitting from his back. In fact, now he loves to sit up so much that I lay him down for a diaper change and he laughs while pulling himself up, again and again. I may have even crooned “can’t hold us down!” at him last night, Christina Aguilera style while he fought his diaper change, refusing to stay put on his back.
I know that at 13 months (tomorrow!), he’s a little… late. I know that most people might scratch their heads in confusion, saying “well, what’s wrong with him?”
The truth is, I will never say there is anything wrong with my son. He does have gross and fine motor skill delays and has been receiving PT and OT for about two months now, but I will never say that’s wrong.
When Caleb was nearing the one year mark and had yet to start crawling or pulling up to stand, his doctor expressed a concern and enrolled him in the early intervention program through the county. A team of specialists came out to poke and prod and test our son, and until that moment, I was never really scared. I didn’t really have any fears of something being “wrong” until they started mentioning sensory issues and delays and all kinds of technical terms that had me researching disorders frantically.
It was shortly thereafter that I decided to stop my research and let it be. I decided then and there that even if my son were to eventually be diagnosed with something, that I would never say he was “wrong,” that something was wrong with him. I knew that I would never say he wasn’t “normal,” only that he may be different instead.
And he is… a little different right now maybe, because he’s hitting his physical milestones a bit late. As of right now though, he merely has delays and we’re working on catching him up… and he’s getting there. He babbles, he laughs, he claps. He behaves like a normal one year old, aside from the delays in mobility and the fact that he hates food with textures, preferring only purees, which is another thing we’re working on in OT.
Our boy is taking baby steps, hitting milestones left and right now with a little prodding and encouragement. I am proud – SO proud – to see him working hard and learning and becoming mobile little by little. I truly know what baby steps are now because I’m witnessing them day by day in my baby.
So the world can tell us anything they want to about our boy. I will not be ashamed. I’ve had conversations with Jerry and this is how they always end: it doesn’t matter what happens. It doesn’t matter what Caleb does or does not end up having and what he can and cannot do. None of that would ever change our love for him, our pride in him, our feelings about him.
We’re getting there, Caleb… we’re just baby stepping.
No comments