And we're off!

I think some people treat babies taking their first (and second, and third...) independent steps as an opportunity to be a downer on their parents.  As in, "oh, well, nothing is safe now!" and "everything will get so much harder now!"  But from those of us whose precious little ones have worked so hard and gone through so much to get to this point, I say plefffffffttttt on you!  Yes, life will be more challenging now.  But life with a little one is challenging....and wonderful....and all brand-new again.  And after the last almost 7 months, it just makes me so happy to see him stretching his confidence levels and bravely venturing out away from the safety of handholds (I'm hearing the theme song to Star Trek in the background now).    He's been such the rock star throughout this whole process, and I am so very proud of my little man!

But yes, we're now walking.  In 5-10 feet segments.  On a variety of surfaces, although some more successfully than others.  We had our first face-plant in the backyard today, and he was much more timid about venturing outside of my reach for the rest of the day.  I don't think the fall bothered him that much, but he's not a fan of actually having to touch grass LOL, and falling means you really can't avoid having your hands touch the stuff.  Aside from touching the grass in the backyard, you can tell he's having a blast. He's awfully proud of himself when he makes it from one piece of furniture to another without incidence, and that is happening more and more often.  The only issue we had was one day his top of his foot was pretty red at the end of the day.  I think the AFO strap was perhaps not tightened snugly enough, and there was a lot of walking going on, so there was a lot of opportunity for rubbing.  The next morning, his skin looked fine, so no worries there.  We just keep checking his skin, and as the weather warms us, I will start changing his socks midway through the day.  We're mostly down to one nap now, so I'll likely change his socks after his nap so that he'll have a fresh one on for the afternoon.  The things you don't think about, huh?

Almost 2 weeks in to the AFO

And things are going VERY well.  E is really starting to take off with his walking.  We go just about everywhere with him holding on to 1 finger.  We walk pretty much all day - up and down the house, outside, up and down the driveway, around the car (cruising).  He got a tricycle for Christmas from his grandparents, and his feet don't quite reach the pedals, but it is the kind that has a handle for the adult to steer it.  He prefers to push it down the driveway and ring the bell from the front of the bike :-).  I'm having difficulty finding socks long enough for the AFO, but his skin seems OK with that.  It helps that he's still (sort of) on 2 naps, so he only wears the AFO in 2-3 hour blocks during the day.  We are still wearing the Denis Brown bar at night and during naps.  Neither the bar/boots nor the AFO seem to bother him in the slightest.  I say it on a regular basis - hubby and I are very lucky that E inherited his daddy's temperament.  I am way too high strung - if his personality was like mine, we'd be in a battle, I'm sure!