Natalie's PT also comes to our house on Tuesdays, so today she told me more about what happened yesterday when she worked with Natalie at the clinic. She said Natalie did well on the tread mill, then with a therapy walker (more sturdy, and her arms are at her side). Caryn wants Natalie to be able to use the therapy walker more frequently, so we might borrow it at home sometimes (there's another kid using it at the clinic) but she said it wouldn't be worth buying (VERY expensive!) because Natalie will be walking too soon. (Is anytime too soon?!?!) What she meant was that it would probably not take Natalie 2-3 years to walk, and that's how much time it would need for the purchase of the walker to be cost-effective.
That's so encouraging. Some kids with RTS don't walk until they're 5-6 or later. Some walk at 2, and I do hope that Natalie will walk before she turns 3 (while she's 2). If she continues to improve at the rate she's been improving recently, she will, but we never know when she'll reach a plateau and not improve for a while.
Lately Natalie likes having her shoes on, although she still pulls them off (hope I don't miss one of those times and leave a shoe behind somewhere). When she's "walking" with someone holding her, she walks about 5 feet, then gets either too excited or too tired to continue. Tom and I are so pleased with the progress she's made!
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