Baby Steps

I have a GREAT BIG announcement!!!

Jett is officially WALKING!!!  {Please excuse my over usage of all caps & exclamation points.  Clearly, I am excited!}


For some time now, he has been able to walk back & forth between Jared & I {like 4-5 steps}, but every single time he would come to the realization that we had let go of his hand & he had walked on his own, he would proceed to throw himself to the ground & burst into a hissyfit & tears!  That's our Jett Jett--he isn't going to do ANYTHING unless it's his idea.  He still preferred his old method of holding onto our hands & directing us all over the house, & to be real honest, I wasn't exactly quite ready to let go of that little hand of his just yet, either}. We didn't push the matter with him too much.  I love that he embarks on new adventures when he feels confident & ready & when he's made up his own mind to do so.  I'm not one of those moms that is trying to hurry & push him into the next milestone.  I knew in the back of my mind that when he got good & ready, that he'd go for it!

Well, lo & behold, Saturday he went for it!  He was standing near the couch, grabbed my phone off of the ottoman, & proceeded to take off to the kitchen with it {a total of about 10-12 steps}.  He was a little wobbly on those chubby baby legs, but I was  pretty impressed at how well he did for his first walking adventure!  Once he got to the slick kitchen floor, he quickly plopped to his booty.  At that point, Jared & I burst into clapping & squealing, & nearly raised the roof off our house with all of our hooping, hollering & carrying on!  Jett's response?  A "what's with you two?" look.   I don't think he even realized what he had done!

Fast forward to this evening, & the kid is walking EVERYWHERE!  And this time, he knows exactly what he's doing & is proud as a peacock of himself!  He buzzed all over the house tonight {sometimes almost running}, & Jared scrambled for the video camera, as I bolted for the camera to capture this great big monumental milestone--thankfully between the two of us, we got plenty of footage!  We cheered & clapped & praised, & you all know me...I fought back the sting of tears.

These milestones, they're bittersweet, aren't they?  On one hand I felt myself so puffed up with pride & excitement that I simply couldn't contain myself, & I wanted to encourage him to go go go as far & as fast as he could!  And then on the other hand, I felt myself wanting to pull him back in, tell him to stop that, & to grab my hand again, that he's not ready to take off on his own just yet.

But the truth is, he is ready.  These are the first steps towards the adventure of his precious life, & as I watched those tiny feet pitter patter across the floor, I envisioned the path that lays before him. It is wide & open & just ready for our little Jett to go & stomp his footprints all over it!  So much of me wants to clench on to him for dear life & not ever let him go, because I know when I do, it will be a blink of an eye before I look at him & won't even be able to remember the days that he was just a chunky, sweet smelling baby, crawling all over my floors, getting into every cabinet & drawer in sight.  But as much as I want to hang on for dear life, I know that's not my role as his mother.  He needs me to let him take off on those first little baby steps.  He needs me to let him walk, & to one day run far & fast. He needs me to let him spread those wings of his & fly.  And I'm going to let him do every bit of it.  And all the while, I'll be on the sidelines video taping, snapping photos, cheering, praising, hooping, hollering, clapping, raising the roof off of this house, & you guessed it--fighting back the sting of tears.

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our 
children.  One is roots.  The other is wings."
--Hodding Carter II




Here are some fun pics of the little guy taking those first "baby steps"!