Walking (thirteen months old)

It's hard to say exactly when Samuel took his official "first steps"--he'd been walking holding onto someone's finger since he was ten months old, but three days after his birthday he decided he was ready to go solo. Saúl and his mom and I were sitting in our living room and Samuel was standing with us, holding onto a chair, when he suddenly took off on his own. He toddled over to some built-in cabinets about five feet away, then casually turned around as if to check on his progress. I think we were a lot more impressed with Samuel's feat than he was!

I took this video footage (click here to view it) about three weeks later, on a rare cool day here in Santa Cruz, walking on the driveway with his dad and me. I guess it's nothing unusual--babies learn to walk as a normal part of their development--but that doesn't keep it from being a miracle: this tiny human being who was once inside of me, then spent months being powerless to do almost anything on his own, is now capable of walking out the front door and facing the wide world. Scary, yes! But also quite amazing.