Look Who's Talking

We are finally winding down from all of the excitement involved with Ruthie taking her first steps. Jon started walking at 15 months. Ruthie's first steps were at 15 months and 2 days. She is, quite literally, following in her father's footsteps. That's not to say that Ruthie is running around doing cartwheels or anything. She is still taking steps here and there, but only when she lets us let go of her.

While Ruthie is still certainly in the normal time frame of learning to walk, I have heard some positive thoughts referring to those who take those first steps later rather than sooner. One thought is that kids who walk later turn out to be more athletic due to the much needed coordination it takes to crawl efficiently (this is, of course, assuming that the child who is not yet walking is, in fact, crawling). In regards to Ruthie, you know that she is already quite the little swimmer. She also has quite a knack for climbing onto and off of various objects (stairs, boxes, sofas, etc) without any help. She has even mastered getting out of spaces in which she was initially buckled down (highchairs, changing tables, shopping carts, etc). Thank goodness she's stopped doing that last one- for now, at least! Needless to say, Ruthie is clearly showing signs of athletic ability, or, at the very least, that she has strong coordination skills. For Ruthie to ski, walking is not important. However, knowing how to coordinate one's arms and legs together into the right movements and rhythm, like crawling, is.

Another positive spin on those who walk a little later is that they are focusing more of their time honing in on their language skills first. As you will clearly be able to tell in the video below, Ruthie has a lot to say and she has obviously been working hard so that she says it all in just the right way. It makes perfect sense that while Ruthie could certainly have been practicing balancing her upper body while putting one foot in front of the other, she instead chose to develop her speech and vocabulary. She must know that this will be an important skill in life- not only for the purpose of communication, but if she has any hopes of ever beating me in Scrabble, she needs to start practicing now!

Yes, of course I know they're just thoughts. Just because Ruthie didn't take her first steps until 15 months doesn't mean she'll be a star athlete or a guru of language. But, when you're in a room full of babies and toddlers, and everyone 9 months and older is walking, except your daughter, it's nice to have those thoughts to go on.

For those of you who might have been wondering about the race between Ruthie and her cousin Jake, Ruthie was the first to take steps on her own. As far as who will be running and doing cartwheels first? That's a whole other race!