Friday, March 26, 2010

Walking!

So, after many long-awaited months, Autumn is walking. Walking!! I am so excited about this, but mostly for purely selfish reasons. I have always said that I would never worry about my daughter's milestones. Children accomplish things at different times and at their own pace. I *know* this in my head. And up until this point, Autumn as either been on track or early in doing things. Let's just say, I've been a very proud mommy. But this walking thing, well, it's for the birds.

Autumn took her first steps a long time ago. She first started standing by herself before her first birthday and I have been saying since then, "oh, it's just a matter of days before she walks!". Well, it wasn't! And I've been patient. I've watched her learn new things, and say new words, and accomplish new skills in the past 3+ months. But walking has been what I've really been waiting for.

I have many friends who have babies just a couple of months younger than Autumn and I've been so excited to learn that each of them have been walking and believe me, I'm SO proud of those little ones. But what happens in my head is the worrying about why Autumn hasn't bothered to do it herself. And I've kept telling myself what I've been saying all along... the proverbial "any day now".

Unfortunately, at 15 months, when you have a daughter that's just as happy to crawl for what you think will be the rest of her life, you begin to become a bit concerned. I even got a comment the other day from a well-meaning friend who, when asking how old Autumn was, with my response of 15 months, she said "well she's walking obviously". And I had to respond while gritting my teeth, that no, she wasn't.

But today, my friends, at just shy of 16 months, Autumn is walking. I picked her up from our babysitter's house and we were on our way home. Lately, I've been letting her "walk" home, and she just holds on to the basket of the stroller and follows along. But today, she saw something that she wanted across my neighbor's yard, and the little stinker just took off.

I'm so proud of Autumn and I'm more than delighted that she finally decided to take this next step. I realize that she's completely perfect in every way, but I'm still a new mom. I think it's my job to worry. So now that she's taken this step, I'll move on to worrying about the next thing. Friends? Boys? College? Who knows what's next!

I'll end this post with a video that I took as soon as we got home. Isn't she the most precious thing you've ever seen? I may be partial, but I sure think so!


Autumn is officially walking! from Karen Wallace on Vimeo.