Mobility

Folks, we have a walker. He's for real putting one foot in front of (or sometimes beside) the other and moving mostly in a forward direction!! YIPEEE!!! And OMG all at the same time. I think he's going to be running soon . . . he crawls so quickly, that I don't think he's going to tolerate the slow speed of walking for much longer.

For his birthday, his dad and I planned to get him a toy that he can push and walk behind while he's mastering this walking thing. Eventually, it converts to a riding toy. There are several bells and whistles, but it's not too stimulating. We had to break down and buy it today, ten days before his birthday. He was moving like crazy and we found it a bit less expensive during our weekly trip to BJs for milk. He won't know it's not his actual birthday, right?

Well, by golly he LOVED it. I should say LOVES it. He was moving back and forth in our tiny living room, crashing into anything that got in his way, including running over Brian's feet! He has the biggest grin on his face, as if he finally understands what it means to be free. He's got the wind in his face and glee in his heart. It's such a sight to see.

I'll go backward a bit . . . with some photographic evidence of his movement from the beginning. In October, he was quite a lump. Not much movement, except to turn his head and bat those eyelashes. In November, he started to turn his head with a little more control and waved (with zero control)!

October Baby Lump

Waving in November

Reading in January

I rolled over, so what?

Gimme, gimme, gimme!

In December, not much different. Perhaps he was sitting when supported? In January - still not yet super wiggly - he'd lie on Brian's chest when they were reading together - very sweet. In February - we started rolling!!! In March, he was sitting unassisted, for the most part and also reaching for the camera. By April, Bennett was totally sitting on his own, and was pulling himself around the room with his army crawl. He got so super fast with that method!

Not pulling up, but being funny in the playpen . . .

In May - we hit the water! Ben completed his PhD program, so we went to Arizona to see him graduate. Thank goodness our hotel had a pool, because it was HOT! Bennett took to the water like it was his best friend forever! In June - Bennett was pulling himself to standing, and doing it A LOT! He was also crawling on all fours with confidence. July found us watching more of the same, just at faster speeds! He would pull himself up in his play pen to get our attention, but he could also sit in there for long periods of time entertaining himself (and us) with his antics.

I want to write more about this - but I really want to post because it's been so long. I'll finish up later, and add some photos/videos of his walking and stair climbing (!) in the next couple of days.