Walking Already?!
I’m constantly with the baby. Our baby boy L is about 9 months old at this point and he’s growing up so fast. I almost can’t remember him as a newborn (mainly because I was so sleep deprived). What’s crazier is that L is starting to walk already at 9 months!
My kids usually walked a bit before their first birthday. It’s a good milestone because we usually send them to kindergarten at that age (with E catching a horrific case of the stomach flu and infecting my wife on her first week of daycare, but that’s a story for another day!). I like it because they won’t exclusively be crawling all over the floor at the daycare and they are more mobile around the play areas. I expected L to be on a similar timeline, but he had his own plans.
I think L sees his older siblings running around and has a huge case of not wanting to miss out. He is constantly crawling into the middle of whatever his siblings are playing. Then he sits there or tries to imitate them. A few nights ago, my wife admitted that L took his first steps without me there. I’m sad about it, but I’ve seen my other kids have a lot of firsts, so it was fine.
The next morning after L’s first steps, he was bumbling around during breakfast on his feet. I got to witness that closely and he took a bunch of steps in a row before falling over. That same night, he kept trying to walk and could consistently take a few steps without any hand holding.
It’s so cute to watch a 9 month old baby walking around and getting super excited. It’s also equally terrifying that he is already doing this and trouble is around the corner. I remember when my other two kids started to walk. The reach and curiosity went through the roof. They got into everything and we as parents could no longer take a break on the sidelines. We now need to actively monitor all the kids. All the time. These days, I have to remind myself that these are the good days. Kids will never be this little again and even when they are causing trouble, I’m trying to cherish each moment. Even the moments of chaos.
