What I’m Learning From My Three Year Old Grandson About Learning to Walk Again

Have you ever watched a child attempting to walk? It begins slowly. It begins way before walking is possible. It begins with sitting.

Core muscles need to be in place – the abdomen muscles – the ole’ six-pack – is needed to stand. And, we can go back even further – walking requires the strength to hold up one’s head. A developmental task for the 1-2 month old. All needed developmentally before learning to walk.

Life is like that. It must be built upon. It is not a one step deal. It is one small step – then, another – then, another.

Learning to walk requires many baby steps. The last step is the legs which gain strength and balance. The strength to stand.

I’m hyper aware of the strength of standing this week because my 3 year old grandson, Clarky, had his body cast removed today after being immobilized for 3 full months.

This cast was required to hold his hips in right alignment after two hip surgeries all necessary due to a genetic hip dislocation. These surgeries will enable Clarky to walk normally into adulthood. Truly, an important task. Tears are in my eyes as I write these words. It’s been a long haul and I’m just the grandma watching from the sidelines.

It has been painful watching Clarky lose the ability to move his legs and lose the ability to walk. It has challenged Clarky’s little self. It has challenged his mom and dad who have needed to perform every task for him. Imagine…

• every Lego that he has dropped on the floor – they have leaned over and picked up
• every time his 3 year old attention span required a new toy or activity to be brought to him – they have gotten the toy
• every change of position he has called for – they have carried him

You get the picture. I realize that not every person receives this gift – the ability to walk – and some people lose the gift due to injury, illness, or aging. Walking is considered a ‘developmental task’ – a rite of passage – almost a right. But, it isn’t.

All of life is a gift. Every moment. Every breath. Every step. A gift from God. Not to be taken lightly.

So, this week after watching Clarky’s body relieved of his cast – this barrier to full movement – I’m putting down a stone of remembrance. I’m giving it a name – thanks.

I’m aware moving forward – standing – walking requires more than one step.

Once movement is lost – once a body has been immobilized for 3 full months, the body still holds itself in the restricted position it was placed in. Clarky’s little body has been ‘trained’ to stay still – legs wide open in an unnatural position.

The purpose has been to allow his bones to heal in correct alignment, which has been accomplished – yet, his young body holds itself firmly in this contracted position.

I can remember many times I’ve been immobilized in my life – most recently, with a chronic health condition. The stress, the alteration to my ability to do my normal activities constrained my life. My life shrunk – rather like the air being sucked out of food being placed in plastic wrap for long term freezing.

I froze. And, even when my health began returning to normal function – I didn’t move for quite awhile. Unsure. Afraid to move forward.

It takes courage to move forward. It takes even more than courage – it requires baby steps. Steps you can build on. Building strength for the next step.

Baby steps don’t always look like we expect. Their motions may be awkward – irregular – hard to recognize as walking motions.

Today, two days after the cast has been removed, Clarky took his 1^st baby steps. This is what it looked like:

Not what I expected. More of a bottom scoot, than a walk or a crawl.

Clarky couldn’t have been more delighted! He gets it. Movement forward – baby steps – are progress. Performing this feat took every thing he had – it was slow going – not easy. He couldn’t stop – he scooted around their apartment floor non-stop for several hours.

It takes practice to master each step forward. It takes guts. We must train. Our muscles are being built. Our position – the tendons that hold muscle to bone and hold us firm are being loosened and retrained into new positions.

It may hurt. You may struggle to get it right. It may look funny. But it is the next baby step forward toward accomplishing this feat of walking naturally.

I’m learning some lessons from Clarky’s learning to walk. Some things I want to record so I don’t forget. I don’t want to lose the good from these hard life lessons. Here are some stones of remembrance…

1. It takes courage to move forward.
2. Baby steps may not look like what I expect.
3. It takes hard work to master even baby steps.
4. Delight in these baby steps – they are worth noticing – they matter.

I have learned something about my faith walk through this process as well…

• My faith grows like muscles, expanding with exercise. My faith muscles, which become my faith walk, grow best not through leaps and bounds, but through numerous small steps. Joyce Meyer says it best – “Faithfulness is not doing something right once but doing something right over and over and over and over.”
  

  “This has been my practice; I obey Your precepts.”

  – Psalm 119;56

• My steps of faith may not always look like what I expect. I need to give myself and others grace for whatever journey God calls them to, and whatever the steps to get there may look like.
  

• Lastly, I must take time to pause – notice the moment – delight in the journey. Taste the goodness of God right here and now.

“Do not despise these small beginnings,

for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…”

– Zechariah 4:10

I’m Linking Up with Holley’s LetsHaveCoffee,  Lyli’s WildfireFaith,  Deb’s Faith’nFriends

Emily’s WhatWeLearnedThisSummer

If you’d like to read more life lessons from learning to walk again here’s one more article –  “Are You Trying To Get Out Of Something God Is Asking You To Lean Into?“