Oh what a feeling...

For about the last month or so, we've been keeping a watchful eye on Isaiah and his desire to be independently mobile. He pulled himself up, stood up on his own, and began cruising along the furniture long before Makenna did, so we figured he would start walking early too. Makenna started fully walking on her own a few days before her first birthday, in fact, it was on her original due date of March 4, go figure! Isaiah, on the other hand, would make random attempts every now and then, and would get about four or five steps before giving up and sitting down. When we'd encourage him to continue, it was like the pressure was too much to handle and he wouldn't try anymore. We decided that he wasn't 100% ready and left him to do it on his own. It didn't take long because the day after his birthday, he took off and has been unstoppable ever since!

I happened to be working from home that day and was taking Makenna to the bathroom. Isaiah was standing up, holding onto a chair in the kitchen when I said "c'mon Zae, let's go change Makenna." As Kenna & I walked away, Isaiah immediately let go of the chair and followed us through the kitchen before falling on his butt near the hallway! I was so excited for him that I forgot Makenna had to go to the bathroom. Isaiah was all smiles and it look like he knew that he finally did it! Makenna even clapped her hands for him, probably because she saw how happy I got! Hehehehe! After that instance, he was on the go all over the place, so I just let him explore. I figured that even though he's pretty much got the run of the house already, things may look different while up on his feet as opposed to crawling. Plus, it gave him a chance to try and keep up with his big sister! He's been walking since last Friday, and will resort to crawling only when he's tired (or if he's having a tantrum and wants someone to pick him up). Yesterday, when I came home from work, Isaiah walked to the door on his own to greet me for the first time! He usually crawls to me, so seeing him turn the corner and happily walk over when he saw it was me made me feel so proud! Of course I felt the same way when Makenna greeted me like that for the first time, but wow, that was so long ago! What a great feeling! It's little things like this that make being a parent so fulfilling =)

Isaiah up on his own, perfecting his walking abilities...