Last June, Eko was nine months old and had just begun to pull himself up onto the furniture. It was such a startling change from four to two-legged that we wrote, "Don't be surprised if our next post begins, 'Let the walking begin.'" Thankfully for our sanity, he took the next four months
to launch proudly into bipedalism. It's been nothing short of amazing to watch our little guy learn to control his body. At six months, he figured out rolling and wouldn't stay on his back long enough for us to change his diaper.
At nine months he pulled himself up from a crawl to peek into the bathtub. For the next three months he built up his muscles crawling around the house and walking along anything that would give him height - a gate, the couch, or the edge of his crib. Until very recently, Eko didn't like when we'd hold onto his hands and 'walk' him around the room. Like most things, it had to be on his terms.
Occasionally we would catch him standing independently, oblivious to his uprightness as he passed a measuring cup from hand to hand. This happened more often as his first birthday approached, and Eko began to notice. He began practicing with gusto. The night he finally stood from a crawl, he crowed and grinned and flapped his arms with joy. Then began the experimental steps. Jay and I were happy to witness his first steps together—all four of them.
We dressed him up as Super Eko for a Halloween potluck, and perhaps wearing a cape inspired him. Suddenly he could toddle across the room. The next day he could bend down to pick up his kitten toy, stand back up, and keep walking. Now, when he isn't examining the contents of the cardboard recycling bin or trying to feed Sasha treats, he's walking, walking, walking. He walks laps around our entire first floor, falling Maggie-Simpson-style and getting right back up.
What a different feeling it is to be able to set him down on his two feet and watch him take off. Or to see from the corner of your eye a suddenly much taller Eko walk out of a room, his feet tap-tap-ing on the floor. In the last few days he's begun perfecting his u-turns and even gets up speed into a kind of run. He's still working on negotiating uneven surfaces. His bear-crawl comes in handy for that. But he's very intrigued with walking (not just crawling) up and down the stairs.For a peek of Eko's transition from four to two-limb transportation, watch our 10th installment of Eko Song.
