Baby on the Go

Gabriella is definitely walking now! She took her first step at the end of 9 months and took her first set of 3-5 steps at the beginning of 10 months. From that point, though, it took her a long time to fully grasp the act of walking. She took about a 2 week break from even trying to walk around 10.5 months. She just could not balance herself! She tried to walk, but was so clumsy and could only go a few steps. Our PAT educator suggested getting her some hard sole shoes (as did my mom and other people). I know they usually say barefoot is best when learning to walk, but if you've seen Gabriella's feet, you'll know why shoes helped her! She has very short feet (she barely measures at a size 3, which is the size most 6 month olds wear) and her feet are very thick (which is a nice way of saying fat). As Daddy would say, she was trying to walk on balls.

The problem was finding shoes that fit her! I went to several stores trying to find a pair of shoes at somewhat of a decent price. I ended up at Stride Rite where they had only ONE pair of hard sole shoes small and wide enough to fit her feet. Luckily, they were cute...brown with pink threading. We put the shoes on her feet at the store and she immediately took more steps than she ever had and was balanced! That night, she started taking 15-20 steps. She continued taking more steps, but when she fell, she would always stay down and crawl. For about the past 3 weeks, she now walks everywhere. If she stumbles and falls, she gets back up and walks. She walks everywhere...from the kitchen to our room, to Andrew's room, back to the living room, in the yard, in stores, where ever we are, Gabriella walks. She looks like a little penguin, but she's doing great, both with shoes and without. I guess she eventually realized she could walk with her little feet, too. I love watching her walk, but I still can't believe she is that old!