3 steps forward

Caleb took his first steps on his own today! he is now 15 months old and quite an expert at crawling, and very cautious, so he hasnt been keen on trying to walk on his own. he's actually been walking fine for a while, but only if he's holding on to one of our fingers. it's not like he's holding on for support, but he's not confident enough to go out on his own. I suspect he may be cautious for his whole life, but he really responds well to encouragment.

so we were hanging out in his room, talking about getting him to walk more, and I remembered that he hasnt been standing much lately. so I picked him up on his feet and told him to stand, just to see how long he could do it. he happened to be holding his blanket. and just as I let him go to stand up, he took three steps toward me! I dont think he knew what he was doing, as the blanket probably fooled him into thinking he was holding on to something stable. of course mama and I went crazy with excitement. and then, still with blanket in hand, he popped up from crawling to standing for the first time too. this he clearly did intentionally, as he had his big proud grin on his face and of course we showered him with praises and encouragement. but no matter what we tried he wouldnt try again, which isnt surprising. he usually thinks the "stand up" thing is a game to fall back down again, but we'll see if he makes any progress tomorrow.

and here we are today on the porch. still no baby girl, but we did get some more stuff done around the house, which is always nice. hopefully she'll be here soon!