One Step at A Time :))

I am pleased to say Andrea has made a some progress with her walking over the past two days.

Yesterday, Gram and Grandpa G. took Andrea to visit with them for the morning. While she was there, they tried lots of games to encourage her to walk; and I find fresh faces always help, too. They got Andrea to take three or four steps on her own, walking between them, in their kitchen. They also pushed some of their downstairs couches close together, and got her to take a step or two from one to the other, in order to reach something she wanted (like Grandpa's watch).

Last night, I set up something similar for her, with our ottoman near our couch. Here's a video to kind of show what we were doing (although she barely took one step in this one):

http://media.putfile.com/Andrea-Takes-a-Step.

One time, I was stretched out on the couch resting, and I called to Andrea, "Come and see Momma!" She took three big steps, all by herself, from the ottoman to me. Of course, that was the only time I got her to take more than one step by herself, although we played for about two hours before her bedtime. But at least it's a little bit of progress. She took a couple steps from Mommy to Daddy this morning, too.

She also started walking holding onto one of my fingers this weekend, which is a big improvement from her clinging for dear life to both of my hands! But she is still very unsteady, and often falls when holding onto one finger/hand. But I think that's more about her lacking confidence than her lacking skill. On the positive side, when she fell, she would reach up and give me her hand right away, because she was willing to get right back up (another improvement).

BUT she still has to be in the mood to do all this. If she doesn't want to, there's no way I can make her move. She will stretch out on the floor, go dead-weight, and throw a tantrum. And that's no fun for either of us. So, when she seems to be getting tired, we stop the game.

Speaking of getting tired, here's Andrea last night, right before bed. Like I said, we had been playing at standing/walking for about 2 hours, and then we went to her room for a change of scenery. I put her baby down on the floor, and she curled up right next to it! Too cute!

***

"Too cute": That reminds me, this evening as Daddy was changing Andrea's diaper, she was talking a lot, so I peeked my head in the door and said, "You're too cute!"

She replied, as clear as a bell, "I know!"

Daddy and I burst out laughing. Andrea has a great sense of timing with some of her comments. :))