What my wife and I thought would happen months ago finally happened this past Friday, our son started walking. It started a few weeks ago with small stints of walking on his own. He would gather his energy together at a couch, stare at the floor, then at where he was going, and then make the five or six foot trip without falling. Friday it began full bore. After my wife changed our son's diaper, she put him on the floor next to an ottoman in our living room. She went to go put the dirty diaper in the bathroom at the opposite end of our house. When she turned around in the bathroom to go get our son, he was walking through the door of the dining room (which our bathroom is off of). From there, she went into the kitchen (also connected to the living room and dining room). I bet everyone can guess what happened next. That's correct, our son walked from the dining room into the kitchen. It seems that all bets are off now. Baby proofing a house is one thing when a baby is crawling. All of a sudden when a child starts walking, it becomes "oh crap, oh crap, oh crap". Mind you, those were the words coming out of my mouth on Saturday when I finally got to see our son's walking accomplishment. It becomes not only about keeping things out of reach, but now includes looking out for sharp corners, open doors, bowls of water for our animals, etc, etc, etc. We thought we had done a good job baby proofing, and for the most part we did, but there is now a whole new list of potential dangers that we have to guard our wobbly son against. Trust me, we are not going to wrap every little corner of our house with bubble wrap and duct tape. Rather, we will be going for the most dangerous obstacles to our son's well being such as our entertainment center that has sharp corners just about the height of his head. Regardless of what we have to do to keep our son safe, it is well worth it.
It is awesome to see our son walk around, and I must add, quite hilarious especially since he is still figuring his balance out. Every time he sets out to walk, his arms seem to do a dance of their own in mid air. They flail slowly up and down, back and forth, twist a little here and there, all in correspondence to his wavering upper body as he tries to keep it centered above his feet. Then there is the look on his face which is priceless in its never ending contortions going from a look of shock to concentration to determination and everything in between. He is even able to navigate most obstacles in his way. What we would normally consider an easy maneuver to step around an obstacle takes thought and planning on his part especially if there is very little room on either side of the obstacle. When he approaches the obstacle, he goes straight towards it, pauses when he gets there to turn his little body, then walks a few more steps before pausing again to turn, and then finally continues on past. It is fairly evident that it still takes a good amount of concentration to walk around our house as when he gets distracted, his balance wavers and he occasionally drops down to his but or knees. Despite the fact that he loves to walk around our house now, he does not walk alone a hundred percent of the time. There are still plenty of times where he will reach for one our hands to help him get from point A to point B or just to walk in a never ending circle around our house. And there is still the issue of getting himself to his feet without the assistance of either one of us or a sturdy object that he can grab on to. He tries occasionally to get to his feet without any assistance, he is just not there yet. It is cute to watch though as he gets up on a knee, puts his other foot flat, and when he can't lift himself up, scoot along the floor with one knee and his foot reaching for either one of our hands or some other assistance.
As much as it will be a challenge now to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't wander off and get into some sort of trouble, it is also an amazing event to watch as a parent. To see every little blunder, every little fall, and then finally to see all his efforts come to fruition is indescribable. To be honest, it is tough to describe exactly what its like watching our son grow and develop. Its almost like watching an open book that is as yet unwritten. As every day unfolds, so a new chapter is written. There are pauses, revisions, editing, and so forth, but at the end of every day there is more to add to that book. Its quite amazing to see him figure out the world around him from allocating shapes and colors to their likeness to stacking cups to walking. I would probably be amazed watching any child go through it, but as I don't run a day care or spend days on end with other babies, my son is my only point of comparison. There is something special about seeing development on a day to day basis that makes everything "worth it". Despite my long hours at work or the endless projects that now take longer around the house, watching our son makes everything better. In association with all this development, but especially his walking, I have noticed that he is developing a mind of his own. It seemed that when he was still crawling (which he still does from time to time) it was easier to keep him away from certain things or to change his course. Now that he is walking, I believe he thinks he can go wherever he wants whenever he wants. If he wants to go walking outside, he will walk up to the back door and start banging on it. Now the real fun begins, setting boundaries and rules. I would like to think it will be easier when he can talk, but for some reason, I am filled with pangs of doubt at that thought. In the end, everything will work out. But for now, we have little man walking!
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