These Boots Were Made for Walking

The exciting news around here (which doesn't at all explain why I didn't blogged last week, but oh, well-- the truth there is that I have no explanation) is that Ryder, at 15 months, is FINALLY walking!

I shouldn't complain about him taking so long, because he still beats Kendra by a good month for that particular milestone. But still. I was getting tired of carrying him all the time, so I'm glad he's finally there. Two things really seemed to encourage him. The first was when I went to L.A.: he walked all the way through the kitchen the first day I was gone, at least 10 steps. Fortunately for my mommy-guilt-muscles, Craig caught it on video, so I got to see it, even if I wasn't actually there. (I also got to hear Craig cheering him along, which made me smile. And miss my boys. And smile some more. And then miss them and sort of maybe want to cry a little.) But after that, he took a hiatus from the whole thing. Until (thing #2), I complained about him not walking in the lesson I taught for Young Womens last week. That seemed to seal the deal, because after that, he became very determined and now he's walking about as much as he's crawling.

I'm having a lot of fun watching him. He's still bad enough at it that he has to hold his upper body very stiffly to stay balanced-- arms up at the ready, head thrown back, all that good stuff. It makes me laugh. It's fun to see how much concentration it takes, knowing that soon he'll be running to keep up with his brother and sister. (Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he can out-run Kendra before the year is up. Not that I have any reason to believe that Ryder will prove to be so athletic, Kendra is just that slow.)

Also in the "let's talk about what Ryder is learning to do" department: today for the first time ever, he stood up without using something to pull himself up! All my kids do this-- they walk before they can stand, so if they fall down, they have to crawl to the nearest wall to pull themselves back up again. But today at church, Ryder began working on standing up without any help. This is ALSO fun to watch, since he does it by sticking his bum up in the air and then straightening up. (I've seen a few adults do it, too, but it's cuter when babies do it!)

Good times.

Here's a video that shows him taking a few steps. I fully expect that only Grandmothers will watch it-- that's okay!