“I think she’s going to do it this time.” It was wishful thinking on my part. With my palms up, I held my hands out and pleaded, “Come to Momma.”
Sara just stood there and looked at me. I have often wondered if she was thinking: “My momma really needs to chill.”
At this point, she was pulling herself up from the floor. Several times Tim and I had watched Sara do it. Each time she did, we just knew she would let go and start walking. Did that happen? Nope. Instead she let go and plopped back down to the floor and crawled around the room.
At first, it frustrated me. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t take that first step. My family and friends advised me not to push it since one day she’d be running around and into everything. Instead, I should enjoy the “crawling” time.
Did I listen? Of course not.
Soon my frustration morphed into worry. Was there something wrong physically where she couldn’t do that?
At her next wellness visit, I asked her doctor about it. After he asked me a couple of questions, he chuckled a little and told me she was perfectly healthy. Then he went on to say she would walk when she was ready and it was her time.
In a gentle way, he was basically telling me to back off and chill. And that’s what I did. I accepted the fact it would happen when she was ready.
One evening, Tim and I had were playing games with Sara in her bedroom. Suddenly she jumped up to her feet and took off. She didn’t walk down the hallway. Oh no, she ran down the hallway as fast as her little chubby legs would take her.
Her path literally took her into the wall. I envisioned her bouncing off of it and falling down to the ground. Then she’d cry and not want to get back up again. So I started to get up and go to her, but Tim grabbed arm. “Just wait and see what she does.”
What I imagined didn’t happen at all.
Instead she continued running with her left arm rubbing against the wall. Then she veered back off and continued on to run into the living room. There she plopped down onto the rug and looked straight at us. She smiled and giggled.
Of course Tim and I cheered. And then we called our relatives.
Looking back now, I realize just how impatient I was to see her walk. But, I think the biggest issue for me was the fact that it was out of my control. God is in control and He alone knows the best timing for things to happen or not happen.
By the way, my family and friends were right about me enjoying Sara’s crawling stage. She literally ran from that day onward. We couldn’t even get out of the car without her wanting to race one of us to the door. It was as if I had given birth to Speedy Gonzales.
“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8 (KJV)