Walking

Yeah! Tristan finally started walking on Tuesday. He took his first steps probably 2 months ago, but had decided that crawling was faster and less scary than walking. We were fine with it, because he would get into less trouble. But, recently I had been anxious to see my little one make the leap of faith and trust his abilities. It had been fun to watch last weekend, he was getting braver and braver by the day. He would walk about 5 steps if he thought nobody was watching. If we caught him in the act, he would quickly sit down and smile. If I clapped and cheered for him, he would just smile and clap along. Finally Tuesday he walked across half the kitchen to me, without me knowing he was going to. And, he knew I was watching the whole time. I know other people's children tend to start walking as early as 9 months old. But, my kids have never done that. Braxton walked at 16 months. A friend was visiting us, and commented after we told him how old he was, "Isn't he supposed to be walking by now?" Colby just replied, "Thanks Mike, thanks for rubbing it in that he's behind." We always tease him about that. Gabe was about to walk at 9 months old, but than he broke his femur two days before our move to Utah, and was put in a body cast because we (the doctor as well as us) thought he had broken his hip. So, we had to travel with him in a body cast, shoved into a car seat as best we could. Poor guy, how uncomfortable! Good thing we made the drive in 2 days, rather than our usual 12 hours straight. But, he managed. Before his cast was taken off, he was rolling over, crawling and even pulling himself up to cruise along the couches in a body cast. Impressive! But, Gabe has always been motivated and way too independent for our sanity. He finally walked at 14 months, long after his cast had been taken off. Now, Tristan has finally decided to believe in himself and make the plunge. I knew he could have done it much sooner, because again, I was watching him out of the corner of my eye. But, he gets nervous easily. Examples of this: He can climb up onto the couch some days, but whines because he is afraid to get down. He can climb up onto the boys' mushroom chair, but again whines nervously like his is stuck. He is a great stair climber, but cannot go down them, just cries at the top of the staircase. He is 14 months old.