Walk this Way!!!

For quite a while now Little Mr. Carter Man has been walking holding onto something for support or to both of someone's hands.  For the past few weeks, a couple mornings here and there, Carter has woken up around 5 am.  I've been telling Ty it's probably due to the "Wonder Weeks", that he's getting ready to walk soon and will sleep better once he hits that milestone (whether it's true or not it makes me feel better when I wake up frustrated at 5 am for a 2nd night in a row).  Last night I was walking Carter around holding onto his hands and he let go of one of my hands and took off hauling around only holding onto one hand.  Up until that point if we let go of one of his hands he would scream and cry and then throw himself to the ground.  I wasn't forcing the issue because it was my belief that he'd do it when he was ready and there was no point in frustrating him when he wasn't quite ready.  Through my years of teaching I've learned you can try to push something on a child, but they will get there in their own time when they're ready.  All you need to do is support them, model for them, and layer on experiences and opportunities.  I was so proud of Carter when he started walking only holding onto one hand and figured it wouldn't be long until he was taking his first steps!  We didn't get a video of him walking only holding one hand with me, but we did get one of him with his grampy today.

This afternoon I took Carter into the bedroom with me so we could take a nap together.  He wasn't quite ready yet, so Ty took him out into the living room and I stayed in bed by myself.  I kept hearing everyone (mom, dad, Jeremy, and Thomas) all clapping and cheering for Carter.  Finally my curiosity trumped how tired I was so I headed in.  Man was it worth it!  Carter was continuously standing up from a sit all on his own, not holding onto anything or getting any help.

Standing with Zuma's help.

He was standing over and over and then the moment I've been waiting for happened.  I reached my hands out and he took a couple steps toward me.  We all screamed with delight and cheered his hard work.  The next 10 minutes were spent with him walking from one person to the next.  He's such a sweet boy because during all of his walking, he went to everyone at least once.  The most impressive trek was 6 steps toward Uncie Jeremy.  Eventually he tired out and he and I headed back to bed for a nap!  I guess we better invest in some real shoes soon!

See you all later!