Small Steps — Big Progress

Happy Holidays to all!  We had a wonderful Christmas-my family came from the East Coast, so both sides of the family were together this year for a large gathering.  Anna was able to spend time with and was spoiled by all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I would say one of the highlights of this Christmas for me was to see Anna as a little sheep in the Christmas program at her preschool.   I dropped off Anna before the performance when I was informed that although absolutely adorable, Anna, during every rehearsal was the little, lone “wandering sheep”-she would not stand where she was supposed to. Last year, there was a spring program where she stood on stage and did fantastic the entire performance- which at that time, surprised me.  I knew in my heart that she could do it again. Armed with that information, I changed Anna in her costume, and got eye-level with Anna and firmly said, “Anna, we are watching, and I know you can do this, but you need to listen to your teacher and do everything that the other little sheep are doing.” I repeated this one more time before I left. She replied a simple, “ok.”   As I left the room, I was still worried about her being the only “wandering sheep”; I sat nervous, but ready to see the performance. Anna came out in her sheep costume as the first in line and center stage, and she nailed it! She did exactly what was asked of her-she went through all her hand- motions and sang along with the other sheep. She did fantastic- I was so happy, I wanted to cry!  She and the other little sheep were just adorable! I knew in my heart that she had it in her and she rose to the challenge and performed beautifully! When I ran up to the stage to pick her up at the end of the performance, she greeted me with a huge smile on her face, she put her hands up in the air and said, “I did it!”. She was so proud of herself as well! The performance was a culmination of all that we had worked on at therapies and at home.  As I recorded her going up the steps, I realized- that to anyone else- that is no big deal. But, for us, that “simple thing”, the thing that we all take for granted in our typical children; we had worked so hard on. To get her to be able to go upstairs without holding on, with alternating feet, and not lose her balance, we had practiced over and over again. This Christmas season, I was grateful for everything about Anna and how far she has come. Even watching her do simple things like opening presents, I know requires fine motor skills that we also had to work diligently on.  I feel like the theme for my blogs are always reduced to just the concept of slow, steady steps with persistence and hard work will pay off in the end. And so, I close this year with a thankful heart and a celebration of Anna and all her abilities, and move forward into 2020, encouraged with a renewed motivation to keep on keeping on for our special little girl, Anna.