Baby Steps!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 was a big day for Jonah. While he has been walking for a while now with props, and we've gotten him to walk a couple steps with the proper incentive (typically puffs, but once with Mommy's Cheez-Its), he really hasn't gotten the nerve to stay up and try more. When we attempted to put him down to walk, he would "retract his landing gear." All this seemed to change yesterday. He made several passes back and forth between us without much more incentive than hugs.

Unfortunately, he has an uncanny sense of when a camera is pointed at him, so we had a lot of difficulty in getting a video of him walking. We were finally able to capture a little something to share, though:



He didn't walk very far yesterday. Baby steps, right? Today was a different story!

At the library, after we read a book together, Jonah seemed to want to move, so I set him down, and he walked a good 15 feet to get to a little stool he likes to push around the library. This was not an isolated event. The library has some very enticing items that prompt Jonah to walk to them. The best thing is that he could just as easily have grabbed a shelf and cruised toward his object of desire.

Again, we weren't able to capture some of his longer foot journeys, but we did get this one to share:



The little girls in the video absolutely loved seeing Jonah walk. He even started to turn and maneuver a bit while I was checking out our books.

He did some more walking when we got home, but mostly behind his John Deere. It must have worn him out pretty good, though, because he went to sleep easier tonight than he has the past few nights.

Sippin'

Jonah is moving! I'm not just talking about moving around, which he does very well, provided he has something (anything!) to push. He is moving from using a bottle to a sippy cup. He is so cute when we put it down in front of him while he is eating. He picks it up and takes a long pull from it. Unfortunately, he then proceeds to throw it on the floor. We need to figure out how to stop that behavior...

We don't have video of him grabbing and sipping the cup yet, but I did catch him crawling around with the cup hanging out of his mouth. I guess it is easier than trying to carry it in a hand while crawling.

Enderis Park: Concerts in the Park

Our neighborhood park association puts on four "Concerts in the Park" each summer. It is a pretty good time, hanging out with neighbors and listening to the music. We went to a couple last summer when Jonah was too little to get around on his own. Last Thursday, we went to the first one where he was (relatively) mobile, and we brought along a toy that he likes to push around the house.

Well, he was all about pushing that truck around the park, both on the sidewalk and on the grass. He seems to really like checking out people and seeing everything going on around him. I also think he likes the freedom of moving about on his own.

Here are a few pics of him with his method of getting around:

"Hmmm... stay on the sidewalk or drive on the grass?"

"Geez, this is hard work!"

Just toolin'!

Fortunately, he didn't run anyone over, but he did have a few narrow misses. He is pretty good about turning things now. He even made a pass in front of the stage when One Drum was playing. He seemed very interested in the speakers, but thankfully didn't get too close.