Look who's walking now

On Saturday morning we went to a conference for parents of babies and toddlers (La Leche League). Amy attended a couple of classes while I hung out with the man. We did lots of finger-walking (he grabs your finger and then starts walking with it -- and it had better come along!) around the hotel lobby, and we went to a baby music class on our own. At the start of this class Elias was mezmirized by two 2-year-olds who were literally running circles around their dad, over and over, laughing the whole time. Looks fun -- so Elias tried finger-walking around me a couple times, which sort of worked until my arm wouldn't wrap around my body.

At lunchtime we went home and he took a big nap, and Amy went back for some afternoon classes. The man woke up at 2pm and was in a good mood. At first we did our usual spreading of the toys around the living room for some play, but it wasn't long before he was doing some serious work: at one point he stood up and walked a few steps, then -- and he's never done this before -- did a 180 degree turn and walked back a few steps. He was clearly very pleased with himself, with a raw grin on his face. As soon as he fell, he got back up again and took another half-dozen steps. Then fell, then got back up for more -- over and over. It was really amazing: he had decided he was going to walk, and that's all he did for the next 45 minutes, consciously trying to just do it. Sometimes he'd only get a few steps, but more and more he was able to walk across the room, or even into another room, stomping irregularly and turning this way and that. I have never seen him working so hard at something for so long. I got about half of it on video, I even got him walking across the room to Amy when she opened the front door.

The picture is Elias walking in the playground yesterday. What a natural.