Baby Steps On A Typically Perfect Day

We’ve been waiting for spring to arrive. The last few weeks have been rainy, and while not cold, it’s not yet been ‘shorts’ weather.

Today was the day.

We elected to take advantage of the perfect 76 degrees this morning and headed to the Dallas Blooms exhibit at the Dallas Arboretum..

The weather was begging us to be outside and there is nothing Mason loves more, save Disneyworld, than poking his nose into flowers and feeling the textures of different plants and such.

Plus all the running streams, waterfalls, and pond with their giant multi colored fish will entertain him endlessly.

We entered into the Arboretum to an explosion of color. Reds, Blues, Purples and every other color imaginable dotted the landscape. Mason immediately leaped out of the stroller and accosted a handful of pinkish tulips, bending down to sniff them.

“Pink flowers”, he chimed.

He got his exercise in today. The acreage is landscaped perfectly with winding paths, rose gardens, acres of azaleas, japanese maple trees, and a wonderful collection of stone steps throughout the park. It’s a physical therapist’s dream come true.

It was a perfect opportunity to get in some free physical therapy. Mason needs to increase his leg strength and stamina, at the same time, increasing balance along the way.

His gross motor skills are in constant need of a tune-up and stairs have always presented a challenge.

Mason first learned to walk upstairs in typical child fashion, one step at a time, both feet always planted on the same step. He did this for MONTHS while other younger children passed him by.

After much therapy he then progressed walking upstairs with one foot on step alternating between steps.

Navigating down the stairs has always presented a challenge to him. Only 4 months ago, give or take a month, did he dare to walk downstairs one foot on each step, with hand firmly grasping a handrail or locked in a virtual death grip on mom & dad.

Now however we’re concentrating on navigating down stairs without the need of utilizing a handrail or a parent for balance, but instead to rely on his own strength and balance.

We’re making baby steps….pun intended.

The Arboretum today was a perfect backdrop to watching how much progress Mason has made physically in the past couple of years.

Don’t get me wrong, he still runs like a cross between a bobblehead doll, a 3 legged dog and a marionette as I’ve said before, but he’s working hard, enjoying himself, and proving to everyone around him that he is not a quitter.