It's Official! Garrison Cade is walking!!

Well, it's now official that the little man is off and walking! We've been anticipating this for a while now, so we are very excited and proud. He will be 15 months old May 5th, so this was something we'd been patiently waiting for. He actually took his first steps on April 3rd (the day before Easter) when he greeted his Granna (my mom), Nana (Terrell's mom), and AnAn (my sister Anna). At 3 different points that day we got to see him take 2-3 steps. So, for the whole month of April we've been waiting for him to really get the hang of it and gain the confidence (and balance) to take several steps consistently. For the longest time he would take just a few steps to greet me or Terrell each day, but as soon as he got close enough to touch us, he would fall forward into us. He would also walk really far distances holding onto to one of our fingers. But, as soon as we let go he would stand there for a second and plop down on his bottom. Then he got a little braver and started taking steps between the coffee table and couch or between the crib and bookshelf in his room. Finally, he got really brave and would just let go and take a few steps until he lost his balance and fell. He gradually took more and more steps and became better and better. Now, he's walking all over the place! He still crawls a lot too, because at this point crawling is a little faster than walking. (I will have to put up pictures soon!)

The very best thing about Garrison's almost month long journery of learning to walk, is that I got to witness it all! It was amazing to see him literally become more brave and confident each day and to see him going from walking 5 steps without falling to walking 15 steps without falling. I'm just the proud mom whenever he takes off down the hall or across the living room. I love to stop what I'm doing and watch because it's such a milestone and he's worked so hard to figure it out. He really seems like a big boy now. He's definitely more toddler than baby... which is really bittersweet. But, I know that "toddlerhood" will bring lots of challenges and fun and I'm really looking forward to it.