7:00 AM, Sunday morning
I wait.
Behind that blanket-draped gate, Tessa is babbling away, playing with some toys stolen from her sister.
I’m waiting for her to want to come to the other side.
This could take awhile.
Maybe a week ago, our physical therapist said that we were being a little too easy on Tessa. She has encouraged us to seize the moments when she is most motivated, like when she wants to get out of bed or up into our arms. Tessa knows that we will pick her up if she cries enough, so her motivation to develop her standing skills is kind of low. She is a lightening fast crawler, so there is no strong urge to stand and walk and run. After all, she can keep up with the other kids by crawling. Yes, she is really that fast.
Yes, I do believe we will be here for awhile.
The fine line between being a kind parent and an enabler is ever-so-blurry sometimes. At what point is she just not going to put in the effort? At what point are we beyond a learning experience and into “well that’s just mean” territory? And when do we just let it go in the name of our sanity?
And when we let it go, are we failing?
Special needs parenting is parenting on steroids. These issues happen with all children, but the degree… the degree is different.
Motivation: the missing puzzle piece to solving my own impatience. It’s a tricky one to find.
Especially when it is so hard to say no to this little face:
Yo soy La Lay 
Thanks Maggie for getting me back to my favorite blog! Great to catch up, even better to have you here last night! BTW….I noticed Tess stretched up with one foot flat on the floor as if she was just about to stand last night! Her nosey-ness seemed a good motivator! You had best pray that when she does get up on two’s, that she is NOT as fast as she is on four!!