lyla is a girl who likes to move at her own pace. vigorously. with gusto. with determination. but don't push her to move to a new phase.
when she first began to crawl, she would army crawl. quite quickly too. but try and get her to lift up her tummy and support her weight on her hands and knees and she would flop right back down and look at you like you had lost your mind. so, we let her maneuver her sweet little self around.
at 12 months, she caught on to the quickness of hands/knees crawling and after a month of perfecting this new wonder (which includes head wagging and hand stomping...can hands stomp?), army crawling became a distant memory.
4 months later, my baby girl has taken her first 2 steps. mind you, they were done in anger when daddy's hands were just out of reach and so it happened without much thought, but they were taken. the next "look mom, no hands" steps were also done in frustration, but it has started. well...independence reared it's amazing head about 7 months ago, but it's one more "step" in that bittersweet direction.
so, i'm guessing walking will happen in much the same fashion as crawling did...with much thought, or non-thought, and practice until the technique is "just right". but until crawling becomes a distant memory too, i'm enjoying every moment of my head-wagging, hand-stomping, vigorous little girl.
