Baby R's First Steps.

They smile and they grin, teeter and totter, move their legs up and down with out actually moving, beaming all the while. R is almost a year old and tonight she took her 1st steps. We are all very excited and J, L and E helped me cheer her on as she walked from leaning on the couch to my arms 4 or 5 times. Between 3 and 5 steps at a time. I lean her against the couch and then move away and call to her. She thinks this is great fun and claps her hands and yells. So we are all clapping and yelling. Then she stops and grins and moves her little tiny feet up and down. Teasing us.. ready to walk but having fun. Then slowly, ever so slowly she moves forward. Funny little unknown jerky movements that always remind Papa of a puppet on a string. Grinning the whole time, pleased that she can do this new thing. Excited that we are all watching and waiting for her. Then she reaches me and stands for 2 seconds completely still before I scoop her up and tickle her, and we are all laughing and yelling and telling her how great she is. Then L stands up and goes to the couch.. Look Momma I can do it too. I can come to Momma too. So he does and we cheer, then J, cheer, then E and we cheer again. Then it's R's turn again for a few more rounds. Cheering and yelling, the house is bedlam. Then L goes back to the couch and slowly, almost perfectly, imitates his sisters slow uncertain steps. But he's so excited when he gets to me instead of me catching him he jumps up and down. He is a mimic and he's very good!! I'm quite amazed every time one of the kids start to walk. It seems like such an expected yet totally unexpected thing. You expect them to walk sooner or later but you forget that they will be moving, tiny little people who stand less then 2 feet tall who actually look and walk like people. They seem to little somehow and too immature. But they aren't, they are just right where they are and loving it. I love watching them walk around but I also regularly forget that there is a new person learning a new skill walking around. I'm not a terrible graceful person and the 1st few days of a new walker are always a bit of a bump and grab time. Bump them as I, or they, walk into them and then quickly grab them before they hit the floor!! R is so tiny that I'm really going to have to watch out. She's so short that she's almost invisible.Hopefully she will be like J and E and go into it slowly so I have some time to readjust and not like L who just got up one day at 9 months and walked!!!

Baby R is still a tiny little mite, sweet and loving. She loves hugs and clings like a monkey. Before she was walking she was trying hard to walk. The older kids would take turns walking her around and encouraging her to step out on her own. We also have a push car that she can walk and push and when she gets going they all 3 go and turn her around when she gets stuck! Her birthday is soon and we are planning her party and cake. The kids are all excited about it and J wants to go to the $ store and buy her a birthday gift. ( I wonder if he thinks that is the only place he can buy things as he's very adamant about that store) She is almost 1 year old and I'm going to start to refer to her as R instead of Baby R. I'm seeing so much more little person in her these days that we don't even call her Baby R anymore but only R. So I'm having to add "baby" to all my posts, because I no longer think of her as a baby but as a toddler. So from now on she will be R and not Baby R.