baby rocks.

As I’ve mentioned, so much has happened in the last month, but among the most exciting, MY BABY’S WALKING!

He took his first steps right after he turned 9 months, and a few days before he turned 10 months, he was a full fledged toddling machine! I’ve taken so much video, I completely forgot to take a single photo, so please excuse the grainy screen shot.

It’s weird because as big as he is for his age, he’s so tiny to be upright and walking. We went to the playground today for an hour at the park and people were staring dropped jaw all over the place when I put him down on the ground and he just took off. He didn’t crawl one time. Not a single time! I couldn’t believe it.  He would speed walk over to the platform steps up to the slide and climb every level until he got to the top, then we’d work on our ‘going down’ skills on his booty. He barrled through the crawl tunnel, he winded his way under the gym, and he went down the slide by himself over and over and over (well, I held his hand of course, it was about as tall as I am). I was pretty joyful watching him today.

I have to say, it’s pretty crazy to look at my little human and see him simply walk over to me, or just get up and walk away from me. Yet at the same time it’s also not *that* entirely weird for some reason. I think maybe because I’ve seen him moving around on his feet since he was 4.5 months old sprinting around the house in his walker. So seeing him in this upright position isn’t new, it’s just now he doesn’t have the saucer around him. 

It’s funny, before having my baby I had always said I wouldn’t mind having him being on the ‘late’ side in his physical developments, staying a baby as long as humanly possible (ha!), but once I had him, I was always so anxious for him to reach the next stage, and once he did I was SO incredibly proud. I know some mamas who said they felt torn being happy and cheering for their advanced babies if they were performing early, and feeling really sad and wanting to just grab them and not let them do it, and I totally get that, but as much as I had thought I’d be the same way, with that dual battle in my head, I found myself constantly encouraging him to progress to the next level and egging him on even if he was slightly apprehensive. 

It is bittersweet though. He’s not an infant anymore. He’s a toddler. Officially! ::tear:: And that is something to slightly lament, because it’s such a sweet tender stage that you only have for such a brief moment in time. But really, that’s such a small part. The rest is filled with so much happiness and pure joy for their accomplishments. I mean, as normal as it is, can you imagine if you suddenly learned how to speak a new language in less than a year, or learned how do a backflip? These physical achievements really are outstanding and it’s intoxicating to watch your child learn all these new things and grow, and I cannot be anything but exhilarated for all these next moments to come.