Show Off!

When my son's cousin who is exactly four months older then him was trying to walk and taking one step at a time she would do good until her mom would scream her name and start clapping her hands and then she would flop to the floor and look at her mom like what? As long as she thought you weren't paying attention to her she would walk across the floor or at least take more then two steps. 

My son was the complete opposite. He liked to show off. The bigger the audience the better for him the more he would walk and smile as he did it. I was thinking about how those two were so different at that age and how at the age of my mom right now she reminds me of toddlers learning to walk . 

I was watching her today as she had physical therapy and she did everything without complaining and stood up straight without prompting and she almost flew down the hallway walking with the walker both times they told her to do it. She had no problems getting up and out of her chair and almost smiled as she did it and doing her exercises you would almost think she was gym ready or just came from the gym the way she was moving. I was more then impressed and I was thinking who is this woman? Surely, it is not the same woman who complains about how she can't get out of bed in the morning because the bed is too low and her legs can't move. Surely, she is not the same woman who complains about the chair and getting up and down to go to the potty takes all of her strength and might and then her "weak" little legs won't go fast enough and surely this is not the same woman who complains about lifting her feet to put on her socks in the afternoon to keep her feet warm. No, this is a completely different woman. This woman I saw was determined, strong, willing to walk that hallway, willing to lift her legs to march in place and do her deep knee bends 20 times and didn't once complain about it was killing her knees.  She didn't complain once about the night commode being too far from the bed when they asked her if she was cool using it at night. She just nodded and smiled and said she was fine. In fact, she told them she was having the best day of the week today. I sat there almost in shock and had to struggle to hold my mouth closed. She even sounded eager to try the steps next week. I was now almost falling off my chair with surprise. Never in a million years did I expect the woman who immediately after getting home from the hospital and walking up the steps says she never wants to do it again. And was serious at the time.

So, she reminded me of my son. When they have an audience they do more and show off more but when the audience is only me or other family members then not so much. Then the complaining and the moaning and groaning and the legs get weak and the knees won't move and the potty is too far.  I think it is funny and today she seriously had me surprised but if I didn't know before I know now that she can do anything she puts her mind to do rather she has an audience or not.