Little man Joe is walking most of the time that he’s on the loose. Up until now, he made attempts to walk a few steps (his max has been about 22 steps) and then crawled the rest of the way at super speed. Dan and I could hardly keep up with him when he was on all fours.

Yesterday that balance shifted in favor of walking. I wasn’t feeling too hot and Joe was getting bored with the walker. So, I brought him in our room, made sure it was safe, and set him standing on the ground while I laid on the bed to sooth my upset stomach. Joe stayed upright, wobbled a bit, took a step, and grinned. Then off he went. Walking like a drunk, but walking. And he really didn’t stop. If he was wobbly, he’d just pause, teeter forwards and backwards until he stayed himself, then continue to move along. When he fell, he simply stood up on the spot, regained his balance, and kept on going. It seemed as if only as a last resort he’d crawl a few feet to the nearest handhold, heave himself up, and then off he’d go again.

Joe is now able to turn in a different direction while walking, bend over to pick up something then stand up again, and pull, throw, and make a general mess of things all in the upright position. I’m still not sure whether to be excited at this new development or terrified about what’s to come as his mobility and personality develop in sync. For example, the door to our closet doesn’t latch and, since Joe has an infatuation with doors, he made a beeline for the only door that he could play with. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Joe teetered the arc of the door this way and that, and was having a ball. It didn’t take him long, however, to find more entertainment inside the closet. Over the weekend, we installed a shelving system and organized our bazillions of pairs of shoes (yes, Dan has as many or more than I do, even if they are primarily Crocs). Within seconds, Joe had every shoe from knee-height down (translate=my shoes) strewn across the closet floor. I pried away a sandal he decided to chew on, cleaned up the mess, shut the door as much as I could, and tried to distract him. Not a half-hour later, he rediscovered the shoes again and thought that tossing them around the closet was a real riot. I finally learned that there was no need to put them away again unless I was certain he was done playing that game. Not a big deal, but also probably only the tip of the wild man iceberg.

What really has me nervous is tomorrow. We’re flying again. Alone. Dan left for Seattle today; Joe and I will join him tomorrow. We’re staying on the 19th floor and our room has a balcony. Talk about nerve wracking experiments in parenting. I’m keeping the kid strapped to my chest with the Baby Bjorn carrier for the rest of the week!