The Journey Of A Lifetime

Begins with a single step... But when to say that step occurred??? I naively assumed River would learn to stand and then a few days later, take a couple tentative steps towards me and bing, bang, boom... he would be a walker. Turns out, not so much. This little man developed quite a love for his walker. He's been cruising around with that thing for months, but take it away and he stands perfectly still. His balance is excellent, so he can stand there quite awhile, giving you sad looks, until you just feel mean for taking it away.




He did take a few independent steps on January 24th, but since then, the steps were few and far between. Begging for them didn't work. He had to be completely distracted, while in a standing position and almost not even realize he was doing it. I had a feeling, he would walk, if he had to go without his walker for any length of time, but he seemed happy and I figured no need to rush.
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This brings us to last week. We were in Montana and you better believe we brought the walker with us. However, we found ourselves on location (movie talk) without it one day (March 8th, 2011 to be exact) and wouldn't you know, this little booger looked at me from across the room and with a twinkle in his eye, marched his little booty all the way to me. He was bringing me some blocks and I guess he figured out it would be easier to walk with them, than crawl with them.



This video is from the next day. I was wondering if he would go back to the walker, but he seems content to be on his own, even if it means being slower and having way more falls. I didn't realize the pride I would feel watching him walk. To me, it borders on miraculous. Arms out in front, face serious in concentration, body clumsily waddling back and forth, breath heavy... it's an overall Frankenstein affect and I promise you, I've never seen anything more beautiful.