For a few weeks now, Willow has been like a baby bird airing out its wings, getting ready for that big leap from the nest.
Willow has been letting go, in other words, releasing her white-knuckled grasp of furniture and parents and stepping out into the void, the wide open spaces of the living room floor.
When she started this three weeks ago, I don't think she knew what she was doing. The first time I spotted her, she let go of my legs and walked about three feet to a nearby ottoman. Moments later, she walked from the ottoman out into the middle of the living room before falling to the floor; that was about four feet of walking.
As any good parent would, I grabbed a phone to record her breakthrough in walking, and as any good kid would, she stopped doing whatever was camera-worthy.
No matter. I got onto the tallest mountain and announced that Willow was walking.
But she didn't do it again, and I had no video evidence. Sure, she stumbled here and lunged there, and she crept around furniture and she tumbled from this chair to that chair. But there was no more walking. My theory is she started realizing she was walking, and that became very scary for her, but what do I know, maybe she just wanted Daddy to look stupid.
But about a week ago, she started it up again, but using much more care, holding those pudgy arms out like a balance stick and tiptoeing one step at a time, first going one foot, then two feet then three feet. The whole act still felt like stumbling and bumbling, so Mommy and I didn't pay much heed to it.
Then just a few days ago, it started looking like very unpolished and unsure walking, usually ending in a solid whomping fall onto the buttocks. My friend Rob calls such antics "The Zombie Walk."
On Monday, I spied Willow starting her Zombie Walk experiments, so I got my phone out and prepared to record. And right on cue, Willow performed the Zombie Walk of the ages, and I have video evidence; just watch the video above!
I'm counting this, April 16, 2012, as the day Willow started walking, and you can't stop me.
I have proof.
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