Well, after weeks and weeks of “almost”, “really close” and “wants to” Elise took her first series of steps last weekend, two days before turning 10 months old! So can we officially classify her as a walker and ditch the stroller? Not exactly. Here’s the full story:
Last Saturday, I dropped Marty and Elise off at Marty’s parents house for the day while I attended a Bridal Shower in Maryland. Of course it was in those six hours I was gone that Ellie took those first solo steps! And of course even though Marty had the video camera with him that day, the battery died so he was unable to capture this monumental moment on video.
I know what you’re thinking, because I was thinking the same thing when Marty shared the baby-walking news: “Yeah, right.” I actually told him (and my mother in law who was insisting that it was true too) that I chose not to believe this crazy lie and that they were probably both hallucinating. Now, I am not prone to calling my husband and mother in law liars, but come on. How does a baby who can’t stand by herself for more than a second or two possibly miraculously develop the ability to walk in six hours? So to demonstrate that he was neither insane nor a liar, Marty stood Ellie up in the middle of the living room and let go of her. She stood there, holding absolutely nothing for at least five seconds before taking four steps over to me and grabbing my arm. Jumping Jesus, Holy Cow! Ellie walked! Guess I have to take back all that lying/hallucinating stuff (sorry Marty and Eileen!)It wasn’t some kind of crazy fluke either. Our little one continued to take multiple steps, teetering around all evening and into the next day at her Gram and Grandpa’s house. She never got past the mark of 5 steps in a row, but didn’t seem deterred by the constant toppling over. (We now see why diapers are necessary! All that padding comes in handy.)
Just when we were ready to buy some Nikes and sign Ellie up for a 5k, a strange thing happened. We went home and Elise stopped walking. We can’t figure if Gram and Grandpa’s house has some sort of magical powers, or if she suddenly developed a very early onset of Alzheimer’s, but it’s like she completely forgot how to take steps the minute we got home. Suddenly, our confident little walker (who was SO pleased with herself for walking) seemed absolutely terrified of letting go and taking steps. Instead of walking to get something, she was opting to immediately drop to her bottom and crawl to get it. She was even refusing to stand with help, letting her little legs crumble beneath her! (she has been standing with help, no problem since she was like two weeks old!)
Over the course of the week, she did take a few steps again here and there, but it was nothing like it was last weekend where she was confidently strutting around, 4 and 5 steps at a time. At daycare on Wednesday, she took a tumble that resulted in a nasty bruise on her cheek, which has certainly not encouraged her with the walking. But we have no idea why she was walking so well at Gram and Grandpa's. Maybe it’s the soft carpeting there, maybe it’s the excitement of chasing after the dog, maybe all that walking wore her little legs out or maybe she finally figured out that walking = falling = pain. Whatever the reason, we can’t say that our daughter is an official walker quite yet. But that doesn’t make her series of steps any less exciting.
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