Since learning how to walk, Darius has developed a few new motor skills as below:

1) Getting into a sitting position after lying down

A month ago, he still did not know how to do that. But suddenly, he learnt how to push his legs backwards while lying on his tummy, do a handstand with legs slightly raised and sit back down on his butt.  At last, I don’t need to run to him from whatever I’m doing because he had flipped and did not know how to get up.

2) Pulling himself up from a sitting position by grabbing hold of a surface higher than him (bedrail, side of bed, top of TV console)

This is a headache as I’ll find him standing up in the middle of the night, walking around his cot still in his sleeping bag! I don’t know how he learnt it but one fine morning, I found hands tickling my face and there he was, hovering over me in his cot. We had to move the alarm clock player now to a lower chair because he’ll just try to push it over the stand next to his cot. It’s frustrating that he learnt this because I had to keep putting him down to sleep at wee hours where he would just get up in the next instant! All elimination communication is also out of his mind now because he doesn’t call out for help in advance anymore. Instead, he only calls after he has peeed. This happens during daytime naps also and it’s making my blood pressure rise.

He can’t get up if the surface is a wall or sides of a table or cabinets however. He needs something to hold onto instead of pressing on the flat or smooth surface.

3) Crawling (sort of), with one leg dragging the other

His hands move in front one after another in a criss cross motion with one of his legs. His other leg just doesn’t come up and he’ll mostly move a little and sit back down instead of constantly ‘crawling’ that way. But the distance he covered is much more now. He’ll reach for the toy using his hands to grab, drag them towards him instead of going nearer.

4) Squatting down from standing up

He started doing some squatting these two days and could squat for sometime holding the toy he’s examining before finally sitting down. He would put his two hands in front and slowly eased into a sitting position. Sometime earlier, he has been ‘crashing’ onto the floor while standing to get his toys on the floor. He used to put his hands in front of him to aim at the place in front of the toy and sit down very hard on his butt. Sometimes, he ends up painfully on the toy in an awkward position and cried. Sometimes, he ends up too far away. I’m glad now that I don’t need to ‘save’ him that often.

Unlike most kids who progress in this manner:  Sitting —> Crawling—> Squatting —> Standing —> Walking, Darius chooses to do otherwise.

Instead, he does the following: Sitting —> Standing up with help or objects —> (when see something interesting) Squat down putting his hands in front of him and slowly lower his buttocks — > Crawl a little to something else further away. Notice how he’s doing it all reversed?

I also found out why crawling is so important before walking. He loves to walk on stairs/steps now but he can’t ‘walk’ up nor down with his short legs. What other children do at the playground is to crawl up to the next step. What he do is put his leg up and expect us to hold his hands to help him walk up. Then, he’ll want to do it again and again. Really tiring!!!

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