Shortly after Karlie came home, we met our new physical therapist who would work with Karlie for the foreseeable future. She fell in love with Karlie right away and was so happy to work with her. The first appointment was meant to evaluate Karlie’s physical capabilities and see where she could use some work. Our PT showed us different ways to encourage specific movements in a way that was always fun for Karlie. We began going to physical therapy once a month and Karlie loved each appointment. She was always so eager to learn and excited to play with new toys. I made it a point to work with Karlie every day to help her practice the moves we learned in physical therapy. She picked up on everything so quickly and soon mastered every skill the PT had showed us. Because Karlie was learning so quickly, we began going to physical therapy every two weeks rather than monthly. This allowed us to keep learning new skills to help Karlie continue to advance.

One of the most difficult moves for Karlie to master was going from kneeling to standing. I would try over and over again to show her how to move one leg out and then the other but she just didn’t like the movement. She always wanted to put her legs in a butterfly position and try to pull herself up that way. It never worked out for her but she was persistent about doing it that way. Eventually our PT told us to just let her keep trying to figure it out her own way. She would get it eventually and it was best for her to figure it out on her own.

I always loved working with Karlie on her physical therapy moves and I refused to give up. Although Karlie was doing amazing, the amount of work that went into it was sometimes disheartening. All I could think about was how most babies just figured these moves out on their own while Karlie needed so much help. It felt like we had to work so hard in every aspect in order for Karlie to live a normal life. Karlie was worth it all so I put in the hard work every day and watched her get stronger and stronger.