Working on Her First Steps

So, I haven't blogged much recently, because Lily has become more dependent upon us for the past three months.  This has been a whine, and for the sake that this walking is supposed to be a positive experience, I've just kept my mouth shut.  It has a happy ending, so I can write about it now.  For about the past 2.5 months, I've been in denial that this is reality, but the last two weeks have just been marked with acceptance.  This acceptance comes on the end of a wonder week developmental period.  So, Lily is awake for approximately 10 hours per day.  On most days, for those 10 hours, she wants to walk all over the place.  This baby LOVES to walk.  And, that walking, because she can't do it on her own, has required us to be hunched over with this cute baby having a ninja grip on one or two of our fingers.  Our backs hurt.  If we tried to use our knees on the wood floor, our knees hurt.  This has been going on for three months.  Ten hours a day for three months.  My mom would take on six hours of the walking while I would take on four.  In my defense, I also have a fulltime job.  Daddy jumps in when he can.

I negotiate with her sometimes.  "Can Mommy just take a gulp of coffee while it's still warm before you drag me to the otherside of the room again?  Just one?  Please, stay here.  No, I just wanna--  Okay, you can have my other hand.  No, I just wanna get this mug.  Can we stay here for a minute?  Oh, all right.  I hope we come back to this mug soon before the coffee goes too bad to drink (again)."

This was supposedly the leap of sequences in which she can begin to understand and manage the flow of events and relationships over time.  The example that the Wonder Weeks app gives is putting the spoon into a bowl, scooping food, and putting that spoon with the food into her mouth.  We've recently seen this manifest in her excitement when we eat with silverware in front of her and her increasing desire to use that silverware.

But, we were hoping it would develop the walking.  You know, moving it along.  We waited.  She could sit up a little better. We waited more.  She could walk holding one hand pretty well.  And we waited.  That was about it for a week or so.  Then, over the weekend, she started to cruise,which is where babies move along  piece of furniture or other object.  She had been so reluctant to do this before that this was a miracle.  Today, I set bath toys along the tub and she moved back and forth on her own to knock them in the tub.

This is a snapshot of Lily learning to walk (what we could take pictures of!):

I was just starting to standy-uppy-pick-up-toy-while-held around July 4th!

Standing in crib early August

Local mom passed along her walker toy.  A hit!

No, no.  That's MY walker toy!

Bought me shoes, so I can now walk at the airport!

Walking at Grandma's in Texas!

Walking at my Aunt and Uncles in Texas!

Aunt Laura got me a walker for Texas, because I love to walk so much!

Walking while waiting for Tex-Mex food in Texas!

We walked in the Metro!

I decided to make the mile trek to the park via walking and the stroller and baby carrier.  Lily can't always make it a mile and back.  But, she loves the park.  Today, she held onto a red seat thing and she wanted to walk to the blue seat thing.  She made like she was gonna do it herself, but didn't.  I eventually offered my hand to help her walk over, because I was worried she'd let go and crack her head on something.  She was holding the blue seat and I had stepped a bit away to take a picture.  She took one look at me and took THREE unassisted steps towards me.  SHE TOOK HER FIRST STEPS TODAY!!! She is still mostly walking assisted with fingers, but she is getting more confident in her ability to get around.

And then there is today...

Right after Lily took her first steps to Mommy.