And she’s off….

The walking has begun and I think our lives will never be the same! Caitlin has been cruising for what seems like forever – atleast 5 months. Finally on Oct 25 at Cate’s birthday she was finally brave enough to take her first four steps on her own! She walked right over to me from a nearby ottoman at the party! We came home and practiced with her right away and got some cute videos of her taking four or five steps at a time. She has been obsessed with practicing walking – especially outside! She will point to the door and sign “shoes” asking to go outside. If she can find her shoes she will sit down and try to put them on herself. She is relentless! Sunday we took our second trip to Sea World and all Caitlin wanted to do was walk around the park holding Daddy’s finger. Too cute! Last Monday (Nov 10) we were outside practicing and waiting for Daddy to come home when she walked the entire length of the driveway by herself (all 3 car lengths!). It has been pretty much full time walking since then! She still can’t stand up without pulling up on something. So if she trips and falls down she will crawl to something to stand up. Other than that she is walking full time. It is still odd for us to see her walk around the corner! Baby proofing has taken on a whole new meaning now that she practically grew tall overnight! She is getting quicker too – today when Eric came home he said – boy is she picking up speed! Today Caitlin figured out that she could walk and carry things which gave her great pleasure and opened up a whole new world of possibilities. She knows the way to our neighbor’s house – Amanda and Jeremy who have two little boys. She walks down the driveway and tries to walk over to their house to play anytime we are outside. She is also discovering new things outside like bushes and the garage door. The other day she went to the garage door and tried to open the handle saying “Da Da”. I tried to explain that Daddy was at work and not locked in the garage! This weekend we went to the park with Grammy & Papa – she loved the new found freedom of walking anywhere on the playground she wanted to go. Also she doesn’t have as much of an interest in food because it takes away too much time from the walking. One great thing about all of the walking is that it tires her out quick! She is back to taking longer naps again – practically passing out at night. Too much fun!