Step One...

Yesterday was pretty monumental in the scheme of Christian's little life. He took his first steps! Quite by accident, but then again, I'm sure that's how it happens for a lot of us. I was sitting in the playroom with him and somehow he ended up standing next to me with a toy and without thinking about it, tried to walk toward me (a foot away). I said, "Are you gonna walk to Mommy???" And with that he took a couple of steps and fell into my arms. At my excitement and encouragement ("You Walked! You Walked!") he was thrilled to do it again, this time taking 3 or 4 steps before plunging into my arms-- laughing all the way. It was a rush of beautiful "in the moment"-ness. And after practicing a few more times, he went back to crawling around with his new Lego's. . . . And of course today he is suddenly self conscious, and won't walk without being able to reach my fingertips in some way. But i did catch him standing on his own several times this morning, clapping... i guess, for himself!
To my surprise it actually warmed up enough yesterday afternoon to go for a walk in the park. It was Christian's first time actually taking everything in tangibly. Discovering the wood chips, and how they fall between your fingers when you pick up a handful. . . . observing every person and dog that walked by, barking at them to come over and play (which one actually did, and of course it happened to be a massive Mastiff with a whip for a tail...slightly overwhelming). He went on the swing, the slide, and climbed the steps of the jungle-gym. He "vroomed" at every car, truck and bus that went by (the park is surrounded by streets on all 4 sides, so this was what most of our time was spent observing). And finally, the most fabulous part of it all-- maybe even some kind of rite of passage-- i introduced him to his first stick. it was a little longer than he is, and he twirled it, banged it on the ground, the jungle-gym, and me. We sat in the dirt and played tug-of-war with it, and i only had to say "be careful or you'll poke your eye out" a couple of times. It was a sweet time of being a Mom of a boy... watching my little boy be a boy-- enjoying the adventures of the world outdoors. Needless to say he fell asleep as soon as we started the stroll home. I let him sleep in the stroller on the back porch for a good 40 minutes to get some fresh air into him-- and he woke up with a look of wonder as to how he got there.
As I was making dinner I turned on some music, and a few minutes later I turned around in time to see him bouncing up and down on his knees to the beat. I guess that counts as his first dance, too! What a day!!