Joy in Helping a Child

I've been off work this week spending time with my daughter while my wife is out of town. Most fathers might cringe at this and I have to admit I haven't enjoyed every minute of it. However, it has been overall a very good experience.

I've especially enjoyed being able to do my daughter's physical therapy exercises with her. I hadn't had much experience with this prior to this week, because my wife does them with my daughter in the mornings. So this past few days I've been in charge of helping the little one get from sitting to kneeling, rocking on her knees, making the motions for crawling, as well walking while holding my hands and cruising along the side of our sofa. The most important part of these exercises is that they have to be fun. So I've been doing all I can to make my daughter laugh while she's rocking on her hands and knees.

She's really making very good progress. She's not dragging her left leg as much when I walk with her and sometimes she'll move her arms for herself when I push her legs during her crawling exercises. It's really fulfilling to see her improving and getting stronger because of some little thing that I've done. It makes it feel like I've at least done one useful thing in by day. If nothing else pans out all day long, at least I've been able to help my child.