Catelynn is Walking!

[Elizabeth Ann West]

My little baby girl reached a big milestone last night, the walking thing clicked! She's been able to stand and stand for ages, but the whole move the feet thing was just not happening. She was in nursery yesterday at church, and the woman who watches the kids asked me if she was walking yet. I replied, no, because she hasn't taken more than one or two steps, and only if Daddy or I were working with her, even with her push toy walker she'd quit after a step or two, just not interested. Well, the woman told me she chased all the big kids (ages 2-4) around the nursery with their push toy walker, giggling and delighted to do so. Got her home, and that night, she pulled herself up on the coffee table and turned around to walk away from it! So naturally Daddy and I got on the floor with her to share in her triumph and she got up to 5 to 8 steps between us.

She doesn't have the momentum of walking down yet, she will step with her left foot, stablize, then bring the right foot up, stabilize, then step with her right, stabilize, etc. It's more 1-2-2-1-1 than 1-2-1-2-1-2. But she's learning! When her legs were visibly tired and giving in, we gave her her push toy (she was indignant she was going to keep on walking, but we didn't want her to hurt herself as she was crashing pretty hard) so she ended up doing another 5 or so laps around the living room with her push toy. She'd giggle, giggle, giggle, hit something and then howl until one of us turned it around so she could go again.

In other news, my husband and I are completely screwed. LOL.

[Debbi]

First off congrats! That is an exciting developmental milestone.

And, second, much commiseration. You will never have a moment's peace again. I remember how excited I was when my son (first-born) walked at 10 months. He was always running around happily, tripping and falling, breaking or bruising or bursting something open. When my daughter came around a few years later, I was in no hurry! She took her first step on her first birthday and didn't walk expertly until later, but I could have waited even longer. Heh, now she's a roller derby girl so I guess the delay didn't hurt her any.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Oh we didn't really encourage the walking, but I'm all ears if someone explains how to make them stop! Catelynn is kinda like a first born, she is my first biological child, and her big brother is 9 but he doesn't live here full time yet. He will be living with us next year for the school year. Plus, I stay home with her all day, so for the most part, she just relates to me. She doesn't get that she's much smaller than Daddy and me, so she wants to do everything we do, including eating what we eat. Seriously, I've never seen a baby LIKE eating salt and vinegar chips, or hot sauce, but Catelynn always wants more after a "taste." I relented on a few chips, but put my foot down on more hot sauce because I wasn't sure how it would do on her system.

[BarryDavidson]

Most little girls will eat just about anything you put in front of them until age five to eight. Five if they have older siblings telling them everything (except sugar and pizza) is yucky, and eight if you're lucky.

Just started walking huh? Strap her to something which doesn't move now!!! Within three years you'll wake up one morning to find her spider-crawling on kitchen cabinets completely naked. Also, put a dead bolt on the house which requires a key from both sides. No hurry on that, you have about three years.

I will tell you from experience. Boys are easier - mostly because they're lazier.

Put the hope of keeping clothes on her out of your head unless you spend WAY too much on frilly Barbie crap, or some other over-expensive cartoon crap that falls apart in the washer the first time you wash it.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

LOL Barry!

I would like to buy my daughter clothes, that would be awesome. At present, her entire wardrobe was given (we take hand me downs from friends with kids, why should I waste money on clothing when she is too young to acknowledge my sacrifice LOL). Our door already only locks with a deadbolt. But we won't be living here once she's tall enough to reach it.

As far as food goes, our 9 year old eats really well. My husband I were raised kinda strict (both from military families). Mommy's kitchen makes one meal per night, take it or leave it. And I at least didn't get "kid" food, shoot, we didn't even own a microwave until I was 16! I don't think my husband did either, as they just couldn't afford it. He only ate what they grew in the garden, what little his Mom bought, and what was given to them (oldest of 6 kids). So our 9 year old has similar values, he eats what is in front of him, or he gets nothing else the rest of the night (we aren't ogres, we accept a good effort, and there are a few things I KNOW my stepson won't eat, like raw tomatoes, and we don't force that).

[Marika]

Awww!!! I remember when my little ones first started walking! I was sooo excited!

Then my daughter discovered running. Yep, that was when it stopped being cute and started getting scary, lol!

Just wait until she discovers that cool thing in the bathroom that makes stuff disappear! Seriously, if you haven't already done it, now would be the time to start locking things like the fridge and toilet. There is no scarier moment than when you wake up next to your hubby's sleeping form and hear the toilet flush, followed by adorable little baby giggles!

[Celeste Stewart]

I'll never forget my son placing the end of the toilet paper roll into the toilet and then flushing. The flush gobbled up the paper, so it kept feeding itself. My son thought it was wildly entertaining. Me, not so much. And BTW, whoever decided that carpeting a bathroom is a great idea?

Congrats on the milestone, Elizabeth.

[Debbi]

That deadbolt is a must. When my oldest granddaughter was a toddler, she got up before everyone else and let herserlf out of the house. My son and his wife woke up to a cop knocking at the door saying "is this your kid? She was wandering through the nieghborhood in just a diaper. Oh, and here's your Labrador too" So scary! A deadbolt went on every exterior door immediately.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Yep all of our doors have deadbolts. Currently she is still in the crib. Right now as a matter of fact, because it's nap time but she appears to have a difference of opinion. However, I am not falling for the "Mommy I don't need to nap" routine again, overtired child is NOT fun.

Her little independent streak is growing day by day. She already wants to do everything herself. And she just discovered she can take off her pants/shorts. She thinks that is hilarious and puts them on her head. LOL.

[BarryDavidson]

Just wait until she discovers that cool thing in the bathroom that makes stuff disappear!

Yes, just wait till you hear a flush followed by, "Uh oh," only to come running and see your jewlery box on the floor. (It clogged the toilet, so we had to remove it to get to the things stuck in the pipe. Ironically, we also found other things which had been missing for months.)

And she just discovered she can take off her pants/shorts.

My youngest didn't put anything on her head. It took years before we could get her to keep ANY clothing on. Now however, she loves clothes. Unfortunately she now wears most of them in one day. Don't even get me started on shoes.

[jadedragon]

Jade is in the "learn to run" stage and she is in a very giving mood. All day she comes up to me handing me stuff and than waiting till I hand it back. Yesterday she headed into my wallet and I'm pretty sure she lost my cell phone. Going to have to break down and buy another because I've looked everywhere now.