My sweet little hard worker

At 11 months, Lucy Toddler could not roll from back to front, support herself on her hands and knees, or bear weight in her legs. If you tried to help her stand up, she would point both legs out parallel to the ground and shriek. The few times I managed to get her to "stand", her knees and ankles hyper-extended strangely.

We took her to the pediatrician, who said she has low muscle tone and hyper-flexibility of the hips, knees, and ankles (he said she has a range of motion in her hips you'd expect to find in a baby 6+ months younger). Her x-rays were normal, so he prescribed physical therapy to and told us to apply to Shriner's Hospital just in case.

Lucy has been in physical therapy twice a week for about 6 weeks. She can now roll from back to front, get into a sitting position independently, support her weight while on her hands and knees, and stand while leaning on something.

The physical therapist thinks there is something wrong with her right hip, because when she army crawls she drags that leg. Because of this tendency, she will probably never "crawl" (which is not a big deal- tons of kids skip that step). We're focusing on standing and walking at this point, and hopefully the doctors at Shriner's will say everything is fine.

Last week, she brought one of her feet forward for the first time while in a walker. It was more like an assisted drag, but her body is learning how to go through the motions (which is the first step). We're still far away from being able to stand or walk independently, and that's ok. I am not in a rush for my baby to be running all over the house. It's just good to know that she's going to be able to do it some day.