First Steps! Kind of... ;)

Jonathan has hit most of his infant milestones "later" than Benjamin did. He started hands&knees crawling at 10 months, Benjamin was everywhere by 7 months, and by 10 months Benjamin had taken his first steps and was on his feet and on his way on his first birthday-- very by-the-book kind of baby. Jonathan has his own timetable, which I actually really appreciate. With Benjamin I found myself watchfully anticipating every new developmental milestone, anxious that he was "on time". Naturally enough, I think, I've been more relaxed with Jonathan, enjoying his babyhood in a different way... just really soaking in every phase rather than awaiting the next one. So, I wasn't too anxious for him to crawl (it was rather nice that he couldn't get too far), until he started getting very frustrated as he developed a desire to keep up with his big brother... and I tired of him army crawling all over the carpet, which you can only keep so clean. So, we were happy when he discovered hands&knees crawling (Jonathan seems to "discover" his new abilities, rather than work on them and develop them). Now he's busybusybusy and getting into everything, but he's been quite a bit happier... till recently. He's become interested in standing up on his own and cruising the furniture and is SO proud, especially when he shakily balances on his feet. He does get very frustrated, though, as he tends to topple quite a bit. So, we showed him how to stand and walk with our little walker toy (which was one of Benjamin's favorites). He's "discovered" he can make the walker move and that just thrills our little guy. He is so excited and happy about his new skill of "almost walking". Sooner than later he'll be running around, really "into everything" and, heaven forbid, teaming up with Benjamin on missions of destruction. Wish me luck. Till then, here's our baby thinking he's the coolest strolling with his push toy. :)