Ok, let me level with you here.
This is Tessa’s walker.
I hate it.
We have actually had it in our home for quite some time. It largely sat unused for several weeks, a giant elephant in the corner, taunting us with it’s slick silver bars and fake leather arm support.
Have I mentioned that I hate it?
I hated her orthotics just as much at first, though now that hate has mellowed to a slow burning irritation. I struggle quite deeply with the fact that her disability is worn on her face. I know that there are equally as many drawbacks to having a disability that is not visible to any Joe Schmoe, but I wish that I knew that some people, some day, would pass her on the street and not just see Down syndrome. When there is equipment, well, it just draws attention to her challenges.
In any case, we have the walker now and while I hate it, I have had to slowly come around because it is what she needs right now. So much of parenting is reminding myself that it’s not about me; it’s about my children and their lives and doing what is best for them to grow strong and independent. So while I may carry my own insecurities about people having pity on the girl with the walker, the more important cause is helping Tessa get up on her own two feet.
How challenging it is to see our children fight their own battles!!
The milestone of the day for us (me, really) was that we took the walker out of the house for the first time. When Tessa’s therapists came, they suggested a session in the park a short walk from our house. So off they went, and Tessa, strapped into her little walker, just raced along the path, shuffling her little feet as fast as she could.
She, the child who cried at the site of her walker just three weeks ago, went about a quarter mile – all the way to the park, actually. She made it.
It’s not about me. It’s not about the people who gawk as they drive by us peddling on down the road. It’s about Tessa, and it’s about getting her wherever it is that she wants to go.
Yo soy La Lay 
Go Tessa, go!!!