For the last few months, Jonah had been been very comfortable walking as long as he had a tight grip on both of our hands at all times. However, if we let go he would stop dead in his tracks and retreat to crawling. He was always so proud with a huge smile on his face when he reached his destination. We got a push toy for him to use in the basement where it is all carpet and for the longest time he wanted nothing to do with it. He was happy pushing all the buttons and playing the music from the safety of the floor. One night when I was upstairs making dinner, Rob called me downstairs telling me there was something I had to see. There was Jonah, practically running behind his toy, again with his huge smile lighting up his eyes. This went on for a few more weeks. He'd push his toy where he wanted to go and when it got stuck he'd back up and turn it around. Chasing Sasha was just taken to a whole new level ;-)
Most recently, we would encourage Jonah to stand up and walk with us when we went from room to room around the house. He was getting so much more confident with this that he would only hold on to one hand...sometimes only a finger. But still, we couldn't get him to take a few independent steps as Rob and I sat a couple of feet apart on the floor arms open wide, cheering him on. He'd put on the brakes.
This past week and weekend, Jonah had pretty much mastered his walking skills from our corner couch to the ottoman to the recliner to the window ledge. All very short distances but he seriously went from object to object over and over again that it was only a matter of time before he would drift out into wide open spaces. We thought that he might be doing this for a while though. At no point in this process had Jonah ever tried standing up on his own unsupported. He played a lot on his knees or with one foot down but we never saw him muster the courage to stand up.
Literally overnight, the little man took off. Last Sunday Jonah spent all day surfing the living room furniture and Monday he wanted nothing to do with hand-holding and marched right down the hallway all by himself!!! He is still trying to figure it out and doesn't go very far with out falling but we get him up and try, try again. We are definitely not used to turning around and seeing this guy-vertical- walking across the room! He will get himself to a standing position with the support of something or someone and then he's moving. He's still got that huge excited smile on his face but it's pretty funny because you can see him pick up speed, his eyes get bigger, and his smile gets wider....just as he's about to bite the dust.
So at 15 months, Jonah is officially walking. I'd say that isn't too bad for a small dude who had a lot of catching up to do. We will see Jonah's physical therapist in 2 weeks. In the meantime he's got to work on refining a few things, but if she likes what she sees we might just graduate from Early Intervention...for now.
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