Almost walking...

From the first week my son learned to crawl, he was pulling himself up on furniture to stand up. He started crusing along furniture. Slowly at first and then faster and more steady as he gained confidence. He is now 10 months old and has been crawling for almost 4 months. Everyday I expect him to start walking.

With a firm hold on the furniture, he is fine and can go all the way around the room. It is fascinating how a being that never knew how to walk before just instinctively knows how to do it. If you are in an accident or somehow lose function in your legs, it can take months of rehab to learn how to walk again. I never had to teach my son how to walk. He just somehow knows what he is supposed to do. Now we are just waiting for his legs to be strong and steady enough to hold his weight.

I recently bought him a toy that can fold up and has all sorts of bobbles for him to play with. But when unfolded, it has a handle and wheels so he can push it and walk behind. He was very wobbly at first and wouldn't attempt it without me right behind him. Within in the past few weeks he crawls right over to it, stands up and walks across the room with it. When he gets to an obstacle, like a wall or a door. He continues to try to walk. I noticed that he is starting to understand that you can't keep going through a wall and a door. He gets to the other side of the toy and pushes it backwards. It is very cute and I am very proud of his problem solving skills but it is hazardous to push the toy from the front. He has tipped it over a number of times by trying to do this. It is hard because I want to encourage him to find solutions to the problems he faces but I don't want him to get hurt. It is a tough balance.

He also knows how to go up stairs but down only one stair. My front entrance is one step down from the living room. Through trial and error he learned how to get down that one little step and he is pretty good at it. Under my supervision, he started to go head first. Then he realized that if he gets to the edge of the step, he can put his hands out to the lower level and then scoots his little bottom until he can slide his back end over the edge. He needs a lot of room though so it isn't ideal for a flight of stairs. But he does love to go up the stairs. He makes a beeline to the stairs and can go up the entire thing. I of course have to carry him down. He is very sweet. He will go up one stair and then look back at me. I smile and he goes up the next one and looks back. I don't know if he is looking for encouragement, approval or just to make sure I will be there to catch him if he slips. Whatever he is thinking, I love it. Baby gates are a lifesaver. I wouldn't be able to keep him away if I didn't have one in place.

In the past week he has been standing unassisted for longer periods of time. I have tried to get him to take a step when he is standing but he always sits down before coming to me. Last night he did take a couple of small steps before sitting. I just can't wait until he is confident that he can take more steps and he won't fall down. This is all so exciting. Everyone tells me that once he starts walking I will wish that he wasn't. But I don't think that is true. We shall see.