Every step you take

STAND!

For a few months now, it started in early October, Reuben has been taking little independent, furtive steps between Jason and his physical therapist (PT) Carrie. And so it can be said that Reuben started to walk at 17 months. During pregnancy I could not sit comfortably on the floor due to sciatica and pelvic pain, so the activity became part of the 3 nights a week ritual between them both as that area of therapy which I enjoyed with Carrie for so many months, gradually landed into Jason's lap.

The best moments within PT are when Reuben masters the skill of standing independently, then lets go and walks without lunging. Only when you understand the complexities involved in such a transition for any child, and then multiply this by the challenges associated with CHARGE, namely, a lack of balance associated with a vestibular dysfunction caused by malformation of the ear canals, coupled with low muscle tone and a missing communication link between the muscles and the brain, that you realise the little miracle that has been unfolding throughout these ferocious months of development.

I'm thinking back to a bleak night when we first arrived at Children's and how I asked one Dr "Will he ever walk?",
expecting a reply of
"Of course!",

in the vein that I had been fishing for a sure positive in the sea of uncertainty as each day brought with it a new diagnosis which gnawed away at what one might perceive as normal, but instead hearing,
"I just don't know".

And I guess he just didn't know.
And nor did we.
Nor could anyone.

When you list all the factors against him, only a sweet little miracle could truly lift those chunky little legs, straighten them into a stand and oh so steadily advance them into such a little march across the alphabet mat of the playroom as to raise the cheers of an army. And that, dear friends, is the miracle that is my sweet little boy Reuben Jack.