Walking

Luke started walking on his own in late March and early April which was just about a week before his first birthday.  Even though he was taking steps his preferred mode of movement was crawling.  In the past month that has changed.  Luke now prefers to walk every where he can and does a pretty good job at getting where he is going.  The video below highlights how far he has come.


The last hurdle that Luke has to clear to be a full fledged walker is standing up without grabbing onto something.  At the moment if he were to fall or sit down he would have to crawl over to a wall or a table into order to transition to standing.

Now that Luke is a walker whenever I get home from work he can now walk over to greet me.  Since he isn't as stable when he isn't moving he usually ends up bear hugging my legs to stay vertical long enough for me to pick him up.

We Have a Walker

Today Luke showed without a doubt that he knows how to walk!  I was sitting on a chair in the kitchen giving Alyce a goodbye hug, Mom was at the refrigerator and Luke was standing near the door to the garage holding onto the wall.  As I was finishing my hug and Mom closing the door Luke lets go of the wall and takes 4 - 5 steps right over to Alyce and I!  They were some pretty fast steps and he was pretty shaky on his feet by the time he arrived but technically it was a walk and of considerable distance.  Best of all both Mom and I were there to witness the event!

Mom and I couldn't be prouder of Luke.  He has been working for so long on walking.  It seems that a few weeks after he was crawling he started climbing up things to cruise around the room.  Luke has even mastered getting back onto the ground as evidenced by a bruise on his bottom.  We were hoping that he would be walking on his own by his first birthday and we made it by 2 days.

Walker Video

As promised earlier here is a video of Luke walking across the room with his walker.


On another note just tonight Mom and I think Luke might have taken his first real steps.  I was tying my shoes in the kitchen while Luke was cruising near the dishwasher.  Next thing I know Luke is standing next to me holding onto my jeans.  I don't think he crawled over to me but if in fact he was on his feet from one place the other I'd say Luke would have to take 2 - 3 steps.