Is he walking yet?

Is WHEN a person with DS walks important?

Or rather, my question is - If they walk "early" does that mean that their cognitive ability is better? Our Doctor told me it doesn't matter when Owen walks it doesn't indicate anything about his cognitive ability. But as a parent I think it would have been somewhat reassuring if Owen had walked within a typical time frame, say around 18 months as some kids with DS do (and some even earlier). And I found when that time frame slipped away and steps were still a long way off that it hurt me, I was filled with self doubt (had I done enough, the right things blah blah blah). I had dreamed of him walking around the toddler pool in the summer time and helping me in the garden watering the vegies. But Summer has left us now and Autumn has all but come and gone and I've had to keep adjusting my "mental milestone calender". I was so sure he would be walking by winter time because I couldn't imagine another winter with a crawling baby - through frosted grass and wet ickky mud - AGAIN. Now I don't want to take anything away from my beautiful boy he is enjoying taking 4 steps in a row and crash tackling me but there is no way that he will be walking by the end of this month and we just had our first frost I have been a slow learner, Owen will do things in his OWN time not mine and he WILL get there and we WILL enjoy strolling around the garden and watering vegies - I should have thrown out that milestone calender years ago.

so why cling to it?

To be honest I think its the intellectual disability thing, it still scares me and it would have been so reassuring for me if he had walked earlier both from the point of view of having felt like we have done enough for him with regards to therapy and also because it may have given me some hope that cognitively he would do well also. I wrote a post about a woman with DS who lives around the block from us who has her licence and drives a (the get away) car, well her mother stopped me in the shops a few weeks ago and asked me how Owen was doing or rather - Was he walking yet? and when I said No hes still a way off walking she said to me - "oh well Megan walked at 17 months she has always done well", and I deflated like a balloon -pppptpttttttttttttttttth. I am pretty sure that just like in typical people the age at which you walk has nothing to do with our other abilities but this encounter gave me the feeling that it did matter.

Urgggh I don't know sometimes when I write things out like this I see how pathetic my fears are, how shallow and how easily hurt I am. What I want for all of my children is for them to be loving, caring, gentle souls who know right from wrong and who treat others (and themselves) with kindness and respect. Not sure if the age you walk has ANYTHING to do with those qualities but I am pretty confident they have nothing to do with them ......whatsoever.