WALKING!!!

This one seems like such a big one, so it is fun to post.

Last night Terry went over to a colleague's house after work to watch the Vanderbilt NCAA basketball game. It was a nice evening, so I was letting Liam play on our enclosed back porch with the door open while I prepped his dinner. I went out to the porch to call Liam in, and he was standing on his own by the table. I crouched down and said, "Come here" and instead of getting down to crawl like he usually does, he took three pretty steady steps towards me and then lunged into my arms. It was ADORABLE. He was clearly totally proud of himself.

Terry was super sad to have missed it (and Liam was in bed when he got home) so we took him out onto the porch this morning before Terry left for work, and sure enough, Liam took steps to Terry too. I have since seen him take a few little independent steps around the house, though our living room is small enough that I think it doesn't really encourage him to walk larger distances, as one step usually takes him from the coffee table to the couch and back.

Today was also his first day with his Early Intervention teacher. She taught me some good tricks for helping him build confidence to walk independently (she said he clearly has the strength, he just needs to chuzpah), and we worked on signing and we think that he started signing back the sign for eat and more. Terry and I will be doing exercises all week to help reinforce his learning of those signs.

What a busy little guy!