A baby’s first steps is something extremely special to a parent. Something they’ll never forget. But the moment Jana was able to take her first unassisted step with her walker was absolutely groundbreaking for her parents.
That’s because Jana has Down syndrome and it took her months of practice to get to that point.
Those with Down syndrome have a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21. This can cause one to have low muscle tone, small stature, an upward slant to the eye, and a single deep crease across the center of the palm.
Jana was adopted by Jen and Juan who already had three children of their own. They were on the list to be foster parents when Jen kept having recurring dreams that she had a baby girl that she knew she didn’t give birth to.
Nine months later they got a call from a social worker saying that a baby girl needed placement, but the catch was that they would have to be willing to adopt her.
That’s how Jana became theirs.
“I remember the day almost perfectly,” Jana recalls on her blog. “Seeing this tiny little peanut all curled up in a car seat. She was beautiful and perfect. I didn’t see Down syndrome. I saw a beautiful little girl who needed deep love and support. One who needed a home because she had already gone through so much in her short little life.”
Since then Jen has celebrated every single milestone that Jana has made because most of those milestones came with some hard work and trying without giving up.
While most babies pick up on crawling easily, Jana learned to crawl with physical therapy.
After she mastered crawling, she moved on to standing. After she mastered standing she learned to walk using a walker with assistance. But eventually, after months of trying, Jana began using her walker all on her own.
You can watch below as she took her first unassisted steps with her walker.
According to one of Jen’s latest blog posts, Jana, who they affectionately refer to as “Peanut”, began to walk without the walker shown above. She has now moved onto something that’s more like a toy instead of a medical walker.
“This will give her more independent as well as not draw huge arrows to her to show everyone that she’s ‘different’,” Jen explains.
Jen and her family are super excited to see Jana grow and learn.
“I was so proud that she has made this progress!!” Jen writes. “I feel like we have been pushing her for this forever! This past month she has really found her strength. There’s no way to determine how long she will still need assistance to walk, but she is heading in the right direction.”
We look forward to seeing Jana grow into a healthy independent girl!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
