Long Time Coming

With three big brothers who didn't walk until they were 18 or 19 months old, Shav didn't surprise us when he wasn't walking by a year...or by a year and a quarter...or by a year and a half.  But I was a little surprised when 20 months rolled around, and he STILL wasn't walking by himself!  After all, it was way back in October that he learned to walk while pushing a chair; and it was February 8, a whole month and a half ago, that he took his first official steps.  Shav had become a pro at cruising, and as long as he was lightly touching a wall, the couch, a desk, anything really, he could walk.  In fact, in recent weeks, he had gotten really good at walking while standing to the side of a tricycle and pushing it along as he went.  We knew his legs were strong and his balance was good, but we also knew it was a matter of him making up his mind to do it:  feeling confident enough and overcoming any fear that might be lingering in his sweet little head.

Two days ago, on March 25, I was upstairs in my room folding laundry, and all four of the boys were upstairs, too.  I had let David have the camera earlier, and he was having an absolute blast taking pictures--nearly 200 pictures!--and, although I had no idea I would want the camera that morning, the close proximity of it came in very handy momentarily (just another example of God arranging even the smallest details of our lives).  When the older three boys all got on my bed, Shav clamored to be put up on it as well; and I took a break from folding laundry to put him on it and let him roam around while I sat on the edge, ready to catch him if he got too close to the edge.  And then, that dear boy stood up and did this (and I grabbed the camera and pushed "Record"!):

And then he did it again:

Over and over, he stood up, walked from one end of the bed to the other, then sat or tumbled down.  He finally launched out and did it.  He finally walked.  Can you believe it???

You'd think it would actually be harder to walk on a bed than on a smooth, firm surface; and especially when one's cheering section started bouncing and making the bed move, wouldn't that be a challenge?  But I'm guessing that Shav is smart enough to realize that it would be much more comfortable to fall down on a bed than on a floor.  :)

As you can tell from the videos, we were SO excited about it; but when I later put Shav on the floor, hoping that he would replicate his victory, he did nothing of the sort.  Not on that day anyway...

But during the late afternoon of the next day, Saturday, March 26, he suddenly stood up in the living room where I was reading some Brambly Hedge books to David and Tobin, and took off.  He didn't walk with the slow, deliberate, hesitant steps of most beginning walkers (like Tobin's first steps, just to mention one example).  He walked like a pro, as if he had been doing it for a while already.  I guess all that practice with the tricycle made the actual event of solo walking quite easy for him.  He walked all the way around our kitchen/living room oval several times, and then he was done.  No amount of cajoling on my part would entice him to do it again:  not when I was watching, not when I got the camera out to try to make a little movie of it, not even when Daddy got home.

But then, later that same evening, at the Soup & Arts Fest at EMS, we were standing around in a hallway, and the dear child got it in his head to walk again.  So he did, taking many, many, MANY steps.  Just as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

After waiting so very long to see him walk, it seemed almost unbelievable that he was actually doing it.

Oh eyes of mine, dost thou deceive me?  Can it be that my son, my littlest son, has now, at long last, joined the ranks of Those Who Walk?!  :)