He's DONE IT!

Just a day shy of his 17-month birthday, 5 months after learning how to crawl, I think I can finally, officially, unreservedly say that Jamesie WALKED!  Now, this of course is different than Jamesie "is walking," but it is a HUGE *step* in the right direction over here. 

Jamesie obviously takes his sweet time reaching his milestones, and he very much eases into them.  He tried out crawling about four steps at a time for about a month before he decided to actually crawl.  He has been cruising furniture for months, without actually letting go to try it on his own.  He tries words out for a week and then we won't hear them again (ever).  He just eases into things.  So, Jamesie actually took his first step the day after my birthday, on August 23.  I know his tendency to try things out and decide he doesn't like it though, so I didn't get too excited.  True to form, in the 3 weeks since August 23 he has taken 2 steps on 5 occassions.  I can confidently say at least the first three times he did not like it.  In fact, when we would pick him up and balance him by holding his hand and try to make him repeat it, he would adamently sit down, kick his legs and scream. 

Then, yesterday he did repeat, and he kept going, to make it 4 steps while going after a ball.  We all clapped and cheered for him and he genuinely liked the attention.  Again, I didn't get too excited, thinking we might have a repeat performance by Christmas.  BUT, today when it was just Jamesie and me together, he pursued the baseball I was holding for a full 8 steps before he realized what had happened and decidedly sat down and crawled the rest of the way to me. 

Here he is trying out standing for one of the first times by himself.  Yes, the boat is moving, and yes, that is his lifejacket on the floor next to him. 

Walking is so liberating!

Sean loves to help Jamesie walk.  Jamesie on the other hand could live without it.  Yes, Sean is wearing a toddler size bathrobe.

I should note that Jamesie is very tall for his age, so he looks like a HUGE baby when he crawls.  He is the average height of a 24-month old, so he gets a few stares when he crawls.  He does not need to be crawling anymore--and now we are just a little closer to making that happen!