Emily is WALKING!!

Okay, so this isn't the post I alluded to yesterday that proves these are my daughters, but I couldn't wait. I had to get this posted ASAP. This morning, around 10:15 - 10:30 am, Emily started walking on her own. Sherri was here, and a friend had come over, too. Both of them were sitting on the couch and Emily started to walk between them. They called me into the front room and Emily walked from the couch to the TV and back, and then all over the place. She holds her arms a little more up than Ella does, but same sort of thing. Now she's still not quite able to transition from a sitting to standing position on her own, but once she's standing, she can walk now! And she is so happy when she does it, just like Ella! It's great! I got a couple pictures, so I'll post them later.

Walking and Carrying the Basket

Ella has moved on beyond just walking. Now she has started carrying things around with her. Most recently, her Lego basket. She carried this basket around the room a couple times this weekend. Most of you that know me know that I love Legos, so this is doubly sweet.

But, if you think I like this, wait until you see my next update. I'm not sure if I'll get it posted today or not, but it'll be posted this week for sure, with pictures, and you'll know why I know she's my daughter.

Ella is WALKING!!

Oh my gosh, it went quick - from standing on Thursday to walking this weekend. Ella is moving across the room now, and sometimes even comes back to us like a boomerang. :) She's so happy when she does it. And it's so cute, too, because she holds her arms up, bent at the elbow. I guess it's for her balance, but I'm surprised she doesn't hold them more outwards. Actually, as I write this, I think the real reason is to protect herself when she falls forward. She hold her arms up, bent at the elbow with her little hands in front of her, somewhere around chest/neck level. She smiles, laughs, and giggles the whole time. We have it on video. :)

For the past few days, Emily has tried standing up and walking. Today was cool because she was holding onto the baby gate at the kitchen, and Ella was walking back and forth between the two gates. My mom was here, and we could see Emily thinking about walking herself. She was holding the bars with one hand, and we could see her loosen her grip, then tighten it again, and repeat that a few times. She finally committed and let go completely, but fell down immediately in a squatting position. We cheered for her, and I bet she'll be walking in a week. We know she can, since she was doing some walking last month.

WALKING Update

I already added this as a comment to the WALKING post, but it doesn't publish the comment right on the blog page, so I'm afraid people will miss it. I wanted to update the post called WALKING from June 29th.

What I mean when I say walking is two things. First, she's actually taking unaided steps, and second, she is able to stand unassisted for enough time that we can see her learning to balance. I'll talk about the first one first, since that is the true walking. Picture this: I am sitting on the floor with my legs outstretched in a V shape in front of me. I hold Emily up to her full height (at that point we're looking eye-to-eye) and I lean forward so that her feet are on the floor between my left and right feet. At this point, I'm either holding onto her hands or her torso. I get her into as neutral a balance as I can - not leaning backwards or forwards - and I left go. She then takes 2-3 steps to me, and usually either falls forward into my chest, but several times she walked all the way to my chest without falling forward. Now of course, many times she didn't take any steps, but just sat down or started to tip one way or the other (I always caught her). And other times she only took a step or a partial step. But several times, again and again, she took steps on her own. I got some of it on video, so I'll see if I can post it.

Now onto the second part. Sometimes, I would let go and she would stand there 1, 2, 3 seconds before usually sitting down. Now that might not sound like a lot, but when you've had a baby who drops right to the floor the second you let go of her arms, it is remarkable to see her stand even for just half a second on her own. It's great, and Ella has been quick to show signs of this, too.

It's great to watch them both experiment with walking and standing. They are so proud of themselves, and so happy when we do it. Oh, I forgot to mention a third walking exercise. Sometimes we walk with them under our legs, and say I'm walking with Ella towards Sarah sitting on the couch. When I get 2-3 steps away, I'll let go and she'll keep walking to the Sarah. This is somewhat less successful than the other two methods above, mostly because our baby is holding our hands while we are holding theirs, and even if I try to let go, she keeps holding on until we get to the couch. But sometimes it works. :)

WALKING!!

I know I posted before that we had the first couple of steps, but last night, we had REAL walking from Emily. I know this is such a short post, so I'll provide more details later. We got some on video and I'll try to upload it You Tube style.

FIRST WALK!!

Well, we have another major milestone. Ella took a first one or two steps on her own last night, and Emily did it today. Now, when I say "on her own," I mean that Sarah and I were basically surrounding them with our arms, encouraging them, etc. We held their hands to start them walking, and then as we got near the couch or the chair, or the other parent, we'd let go. Most of the time, they either stopped moving their feet and leaned forward, or they just sat right down, but at least once they both took steps on their own!

Also today, almost as exciting, Sarah and I were watching "Walk the Line" - the Johnny Cash bio pic - and we danced with both girls to some of the music. And then at one point, I started snapping to the music, and Ella imitated the motion that my arm made every time I snapped. It was fantastic. First time I've snapped around her, and she displayed it back right away! I'm loving this whole fatherhood thing. What a good weekend!