By six months her memory had progressed considerably, she could stand up and use the furniture to use them as support, she could even stand without support for a moment.
Every morning we started with the same phrase: Ok, big girl, today’s the day, let’s walk!
But there was no movement in her legs; she couldn't walk!. I had definitely missed something important. I needed to get back to my books while she kept practicing in her crib.
Days later while I was holding her in my arms, I said Alexa: play some jazz music. The light ring turned on (Alexa was processing my request), and the music started.
I heard a voice: Ak!
For my surprise my baby girl was saying Alexa in her own words. I remember how fascinating she was trying to imitate me. Then I told her, when I say the word Alexa, you repeat it ok?
Alexa! The blue ring turned on, and she repeated it: Ak! That was funny. I recorded a video and instantly went viral in my mind.
I remembered the core function of Amazon Echo:
“When you want to use Echo, just say the wake word “Alexa” and Echo responds instantly.”
And then suddenly the idea came out:
She doesn't know how to walk because she doesn't know what she needs to start walking. She just needs to move one leg at a time, a wake word to execute the command "move your leg."
Our new wake word was "Step."
From that moment it took us approximately three weeks of practice to get one step at a time with the wake word. With each day of walking, she made more steps, traveled farther distances, and falling less.
“The only freedom you truly have is in your mind, so use it.”
16 Sep 2017