We Have a New....

Stepper in the family! I was going to say we have a new walker in the family, but walking is a bit of a stretch for what is actually happening. I'm excited to tell you that Schaeffer has taken his first steps though! While we were on vacation my mom somehow convinced him that standing on his own two legs really wasn't such an awful idea. Previously, he would crumple to his knees as soon as you tried to get him to stand on his own or walk holding your hand. But when we came home he was like a new kid and could stand for great lengths on his own. His stability was amazing compared to before and he could even bend at the knees and stand back up. He was playing with toys without holding on and showing an amazing amount of progress. Thursday I tried to get him to walk to me a few times but every attempt he made quickly resulted in a crumble to the floor. Friday afternoon I tried again and he made his first little shuffles towards me! His feet never left the ground but he did make forward progress while standing. I was very excited and we showed Paul as soon as he got home. Saturday we tried again and he actually picked his little feet up and took two wobbly, unsure steps towards me. He collapsed in my arms and we clapped and giggled and made a great big deal of it. A few times since we've gotten him to take two or three tentative steps towards us. We'll see how long it takes him to get the hang of it. Yesterday afternoon he went back to his stubborn ways and won't even stand when I put him down, just collapses in a heap again. Who knows if walking is in his near future but I am so excited to see that we are "taking steps" in the right direction. Logan on the other hand is not quite so steady on his feet. Though I don't believe that is due to lack of ability. I know he can stand, he just isn't quite as sure as Schaeffer yet. On Saturday Logan was so cute though. He saw us practicing with Schaeffer and saw our excitement. He crawled right over to me, looked me in the eyes and pushed off my knee to standing, without holding on. Then he just stood there and grinned at me as if to say "look at me! I can do it too, Mom.". Then he would collapse in my lap and we'd giggle while he thought he was hot stuff. Funny boy.

It will be interesting to see if the boys follow in the same pattern they had when they were learning other skills like crawling and pulling up and rolling over. It always seems that Schaeffer is first but it takes him a while to be good at the skill and Logan is second but does the skill very well from the beginning.