Walking...

As many of us in the international adoption world expect, our daughter is a little behind in her gross motor skills. When we first met, she had to have a "command centre" on the bed. Her Daddy built pillows all around her and gave her all of her toys to play with. It was sweet. He refuses to go into the princess thing with her and calls her the Empress and asks her "how goes the Empire". She ordered us about from that space VERY effectively.
At that time Annie could walk holding onto our hands but she couldn't crawl or move herself around at all, even on the bed. Well since we have been home and "teaching her", she crawls everywhere and pulls herself up easily to couch serf. My girlfriend Ricci gave her a little "walker" and on Sunday, she actually started using it to walk with!!!! Today I put on her squeaky shoes for the first time and she howled with laughter as we walked from the bedroom to the living room. She is now playing with Daddy and her squeaky shoes. Too cute.
This morning, she was also standing by herself for a moment which she is soooo very proud of. She started doing this in her crib and then falling on her butt, laughing hysterically. The other night when I was making dinner, she was in "her" tupperware" drawer and she used it stand on her own a few times. It is sooo cute, the pride in her eyes and her smile when she accomplishes things. It certainly helps that I have an old scaphoid injury from Dec. and I was having trouble picking her up so we were doing lots of walking and crawling together. I have a brace now that helps but I could always pick her up for lots of cuddles and kisses!!
Oh and one of the wonderful things that we have is Arnica in little homeopathic balls. When Annie falls, which she invariably does, a few little arnica pellets help her to calm down and heal. As Colleen says, they may work, they may not but they are something to chew!!!!!