Wednesday, March 28, 2007

No Strings Attached

Today, after having a five day vacation--followed by two days back at work, I find myself at home yet again. This time, it's under entirely different circumstances. I received a call from Laura informing me that young Thomas had fallen ill and that daycare services would be closed for today.

For the past several months, we've been patiently awaiting Audrey's first steps. She's come close. She's gotten to where she stands up, but only in short increments. Lisa, always the worrier, has been doing research on the internet to figure out if something might be wrong, seeing as how Thomas has been walking for a few months now and he's only a month older than Audrey. I've had to remind her several times that at the age of ten months I took my first step, which was met with disaster. I was so discouraged by this that I didn't even try again until I was 32 months old.

"There's still hope," I remind her.

But what would Audrey roaming around free do to our lifestyle? She'll be into everything. And what about the act of walking unto itself? I still can't get over Thomas' bouncing up to me when I enter their house on a daily basis. I tell Chad and Laura that he looks like a puppet. Or better yet, a little boy who's being held up by an invisible man. Laura laughs at this, despite my seriousness, and Chad has confessed that it creeps him out a bit since Thomas is always sneaking up on him now.

So today Audrey is in her playroom as I stand in the kitchen, on the phone with Mom. As usual, Mom asks if Audrey has started walking yet. I tell her no, but that she seems restless and ready to go. It's at this very moment that Audrey stands up and begins to walk toward me. I couldn't believe my eyes. I express excitement to Mom, which she reciprocates.

It's been an hour since then and now she's walking all over the place. Sure, she falls occasionally, but she lifts herself up again and continues to walk. I guess her confidence is better than mine at that age. I'm thankful that I was around to see it happen. And to prove to myself that there's no strings involved.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Once the child is mobile, life is never the same.

"Mutt"

28 March, 2007  
Blogger Mark Teel said...

Well, she hasn't been doing it too much since after her first nap. As a matter of fact, Lisa thought that I was making the whole thing up tonight. Finally, she started doing a little walking around. But nothing as fancy as what I saw this morning.

mwt.

28 March, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was a "phone witness." She was walking! I think she is very much her daddy's little girl - very hard headed! Mark did, indeed, start to walk at 11 months (sorry, Mark, you were 11 months old, not 10 months), & you fell, hurt your mouth pretty badly, & refused to try again until you were 13 months (not 32 months - again, sorry, Mark).

Audrey will walk when she's good & ready. And I think she's about ready. As her Papa Dave says,"Hers is a little girl. She needs to come over & see her papa."

28 March, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh yeah - well, Charlie just learned yesterday how to get through the doggie door on our new storm door.

Seriously, that's great she's finally walking. Although this will open up a whole new world of potential mischief, but suppose that's got to happen sometime.

29 March, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess they're both growing up - Audrey & Charlie, that is.

Mom

29 March, 2007  
Blogger Mark Teel said...

yeah, we thought she was into everything before. When she was just crawling around. Now it's even more chaotic.

mwt.

29 March, 2007  

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