We’ve Got a Walker!

It’s official – we’re making the call… Ben is walking! Check out the video here!

The first time Ben stood up on his own {as in went from a sit to a stand without help} was the weekend of the 4th of July. Since then he’s been practicing standing up, only a little bit, and walking while holding our hands.

20170702_191748423_iOS

About two or three weeks ago Ben took his first steps – it almost seemed like a fluke! We kept trying to get him to repeat and he seldom would. Then last weekend we really practiced with him and he kept taking more and more steps. It seemed like he didn’t understand that he could walk – whenever he’d be standing and we’d say “come here” he would get down on his hands and knees and crawl over to us.

Finally last week on Tuesday I was really getting into it and kept practicing and cheering him on and I could tell it clicked – he finally got it that he could take steps on his own! Watching him figure out that he could walk has been one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. His eyes were so bright and wide and he was smiling ear to ear – he was SO proud of himself!

Check out the video here of him on Tuesday {it’s too long to embed here, I guess}.

He has been getting stronger and more stable with taking steps all week and then finally today we made the call to say he is walking because he went from sitting to standing to walking 100% on his own with no support or help at all.

Ben’s balance and ability to walk very far is still very limited – the most I’ve seen is about 10 steps. I have a feeling, though, that in two weeks he’s going to be running! We are mentally preparing for lots of falling, bumps and bruises – hopefully he’ll get the hang of it quickly!