Robert's first (unofficial) steps

It's all happening so quickly!

Last week Robert wouldn't even hold my fingers and move his feet, but this week he grabs hold and charges forward giggling and jabbering across the whole length of the house. This kid loves to move. He's thrilled with the idea of walking, but his balance leaves a lot to be desired and sometimes as he walks one or the other of his feet points straight out, as in perpendicular to his stance, rather than pointing the way to go.

He has stood alone for 2-3 seconds at a time twice before, but promptly plopped back to the floor. Tonight after pjs I sat on the floor and plopped him out in front of me and let go. I thought we could practice standing still and balancing. Instead the kid ran at me! At first it was one step at a time, each resulting in a fall to the floor. Then a couple of times he took 2 steps before falling down. Now, I can't say that he ever balanced himself before the steps and after the steps he had fallen. So, while the judge's ruling is still out as to whether these count as his first steps, he was not holding on and both of his feet did progress forward during his dive toward me.

I've always heard of children bypassing walking to just start running, which I thought was a little "freakish," to put it bluntly. If any child was ever a candidate for that, it would be Robert. He's so eager to go he can't even stand upright. He forges forward regardless of the laws of gravity. Both Mary and William walked at 15 months, but both were balancing timidly getting the courage to move their feet for a couple of months before they actually took their first steps and eventually walked. Robert only has 2 weeks by their standards (and what do they know!), but I imagine he'll come at it like he did crawling - suddenly and at full speed.

As the weeks progress, expect to hear more about these mysterious "steps." I may decide afterall that they were indeed the first steps of our little sprinter.