Pending Party of Four

we officially have a walker on our hands. she’d been getting closer and closer for the past few weeks and her biggest (only?) hurdle to unsupported walking was being completely uninterested in moving forward without someone holding both of her hands. occasionally, i could get her to walk forward while just holding onto one hand, but that was only to get to my other outstretched hand and she would cry and fuss the entire way. i tried cheering over her complaints to show her it was a good thing, but she would have None Of It. it was clear by the lack of weight pressing into my hand(s) that she didn’t need them to propel herself forward and regain her balance on the next step. like learning to stand, it worked best when there was a perfect storm of distraction and interest. if she got too excited, she would be frustrated by her slow progress and drop to her knees to crawl over.

this weekend we travelled to Bryan, TX to visit some friends, and i had hoped that the extra distractions and excitement would do the trick. i didn’t have to wait long.

when gina and i returned from the grocery store yesterday, ryan declared that she had taken several steps (4 or 5) in pursuit of their cat (kitty mae). she only dropped to her knees when she reached the cat (the awesome, completely docile cat that lets her do almost anything and when she has had enough, she simply gets up and walks out of reach). this morning, she did it twice again, and easily tolerated the one-hand lead around the room. the only time she protested was when she was too tired or excited to deal with the pace.

speaking of steps, her favorite activity at our friends’ house seems to be scaling their staircase. she’s seen stairs before at her grandmother’s house, but climbing them was something she did slowly and cautiously. not so anymore. she races to the top of the steps any chance she gets and will only tolerate being removed so that she can scale them again. ryan has started working on going down the stairs safely. she crawls for a while, but when she reaches the section of the stairs with a bannister, she stands up and lowers herself while clutching the poles.

we’ll be in texas for another 4 days. who knows what other skills she’ll pick up!

Eh. not quite.

she’s been really close for months, or at least that’s the way it has seemed since september. she started cruising and we thought “surely, it can’t be long now.” but her progress sort of stagnated. it’s not a developmental thing (she’s still months and months (and months) away from someone other than her parents being concerned), she’s just working it out at her own pace. she also hates shoes, due to not wearing the much as a baby-baby (even the soft-soled ones). trying to get her to keep them on has been quite a challenge.

i think part of the reason for the delay is how fast she can crawl. for several months, even though she could cruise very well and stand relatively well, she wasn’t really interested in moving forward that way. you could almost see it in her face. she’d think about taking a step and get this look that said “screw this. crawling’s so much faster.” she’d drop down and take off towards her goal. standing was only useful as a stage between sitting and climbing. balance was never a consideration, and it turns out balance is key.

the other “reason” i think is lack of socialization. i’ve noticed over the past year that whenever she’s around someone her size she studies them intently and the next day she can do (or is trying to do) something that she couldn’t the day before. since she’s staying at home with me, she doesn’t have as much exposure to walkers her size to give her the idea that it’s the way to go. at her birthday party, however, there was a 15 month old chasing everyone around and it started to really click for her. maybe it was just that he was getting more attention than her.

at 13 months she likes doing laps around the kitchen with her grocery cart. she’s also interested grabbing your hands and leading you around the house. sometimes she’ll tolerate doing it one handed, but the speed gets her down. she requires lots of cheering to convince her this something she wants to do. we’ve had a few moments where she’s taken a small step on her own, but that’s usually just to fall into someone’s waiting arms. there is no dismount ;)

standing is much the same way. she’ll pull up with ease (and has been for months), but to keep her standing, you have to distract her and/or then cheer her on. she’s up to almost 10 minutes in the same place (assuming there’s something worth watching on the tv) and can even bounce around while she’s up there and compensate with her balance. she’s really good at falling safely, though, which is very important. it’s also a good indicator of how tired she is. sloppy falls means it’s nap time.

a couple of days ago, i nabbed some videos of her current progress:

standing:

pushing a cart:

i’m looking forward to christmas and exposure to her walking cohorts to really finish off the lessons.