Full speed ahead

It's official, we have a toddler on our hands.  Evie has been toying with the idea of walking for some time now, but as of March 12th, 2013, she took multiple consecutive steps all on her own!  She showed off her new skills while video chatting with her nana and grandpa.  Put an iPad or iPhone in her reach, and Evie is off and running.  It's pretty fun to watch; she gets this look on her face like "can you BELIEVE what is happening here?"  Pure joy.  And when we clap for her, she stops walking and pauses in order to clap along with us.  I'm slightly nervous for what the toddling will bring, but mostly excited to join in on her fun.

Mo's youngest, Austin,
pulling Evie in a cart.  

The real progress was made while we were out in Steamboat with our friends Mo & Robbie and their three boys.  Braydon is 5, Caleb is 4, and Austin just turned 2.  Evie had a blast with them, and they seemed to get a kick out of her too.  According to Mo, her boys never pay much attention to babies, but they were pretty engaged with Evie.  Braydon would grab a toy and hold it out for her, encouraging her to walk to him.  She tried to do so a handful of times, but mostly was engrossed with observing these boys run around her.

Evie insists on crawling up our condo stairs,
being carried is no longer cool

Aside from attempting to walk in CO, Evie made a hobby out of crawling up the flight of stairs at the ranch, and then getting frustrated because she couldn't figure out how to get back down.  The boys would run up and down the stairs and she'd start to cry because she couldn't do it.  I'd sit in the middle of the stairs and try to encourage her to figure it out, or ask the boys to model it for her.  But she'd just sit at the top and cry a bit harder, as if to say "mom, you are SO mean.  Pick me up and take me to the bottom so I can crawl up again!"  No chance.  At one point she was so frustrated that Braydon felt bad and handed her a stuffed animal.  Evie quieted a bit.  Seeing this, Austin got jealous and snatched the animal from her and tossed it into a pack n play so she couldn't get it.  Ever the hero, Caleb punched Austin, grabbed the animal, and gave it back to Evie.  Then, he looked at me with a smile like "didn't I do the right thing?" It was so funny to see the look on his face when I explained that yes, it was nice to give Evie back the animal, but he could have chosen a better way to handle it.

Now that we're home, Evie seems a bit sad at the lack of activity in the condo.  Perhaps that's why she chose the day we returned to start walking.  Time to venture out and see some new things.  It was getting boring just crawling around the same few rooms.  Let the baby proofing continue...