Out for a walk...finally!

At 17 months, Miss Bethie is finally, finally, finally taking a few steps on her own! Her first official steps were last Friday evening. We were visiting with friends after a BBQ dinner, enjoying the fabulous weather we've been having. The four adults were talking together and the three kids were downstairs playing. Bethie came crawling up the stairs (she loves "teps") and our friend Autumn was helping her up. Suddenly Autumn wasn't holding on any more and Bethie took three steps to her Daddy! She did it again twice more (to much cheers and applause) and promptly burst into tears and refused to try again.

So we've been taking her outside as much as possible to practice. It finally dawned on us that our apartment is so small that she really hasn't had a lot of practice walking. If she's inside, she crawls and if she's outside, she is carried or is in the stroller. Over the last few days, she has been (mostly) eager and cooperative walking while holding onto our hands. But as soon as we try letting go, she bends her knees and sits on her tush. But yesterday while waiting for Hannah to finish school I was placing enticing objects (my keys! a pencil! my phone!) on a bench and letting her walk about 3 steps to get them. She kept this up for a while and then was done - totally refused to do it again. Can you say "stubborn?" (And yes, she can.)

So we'll just keep trying it and one of these days her brain will figure out that her body's been capable all along and she'll just take off. We'll try to get a photo and post it!

In other news, Don is dropping one class (Pauline Epistles) and replacing it with another. Yesterday was a really hard day for him and he was having a rough time getting all his work done. I think this change will be a good one - we'll let you know.

Hannah is loving her new preschool. Yesterday she got to bring home the "Buddy Bag," containing a Curious George animal and two Curious George books. She gets to take George with her wherever she wants and will tell her classmates about George's adventures tomorrow. Wish I could be there to listen!


Here's reason #105 why you should childproof your house and not let small children play in the bathroom unsupervised! (This was back in June.)


And going even farther back, in case you wanted to know how to dress when going out to get the mail, Hannah and Don will demonstrate (Be sure to note Don's oh-so-cute hat and Hannah's blankie tied around her neck like a cape):

Stay tuned for more fashion tips and walking updates!