We finally have a walker on our hands!! And what a cute little swagger he has! It just goes to show that Baby Steps are just that, BABY STEPS. A baby learns so much in such a short period of time and as a parent you worry and want to be sure they reach milestones on time. Riley has reached all of his milestones and the Doctors said it was normal for a baby not to walk even up to 18 months but needless to say we're relieved that he is officially walking at 16 months! On an interesting note, I didn't walk until 15 months myself so I guess not only does Riley look like his Mommy but he's following in my foot steps (literally) too!
We've tried everything from squeaky shoes (a great Christmas present from Riley's friend Lilly) to moving Riley up to the toddler class at school early. And Riley required a wide shoe so finally this weekend we bought him a pair of white size 4 1/2 wide Stride Rite walking shoes. We were so excited because overnight he went from 2 to 4 steps at a time to 8 to 10 steps at a time! Then when Jeremy picked him up from daycare on Monday they were RUINED! I'm talking the toes were not only scuffed completely black but the sides and all, including the laces were orange-ish. Jeremy marched back in and asked what happend and the director was FURIOUS! She kept the shoes and the next day offered to pay us back the $45 that his shoes had cost. Jeremy was all for that until he asked how that would work (thinking that we'd deduct $45 from our weekly $130 tuition check). They were going to split the amount and take it out of Riley's individual daycare workers' checks. Of course we refused to let that happen. But Riley will be wearing the shoes that in the directors words: "can't be worn in public" because of the "negligence of his teachers" to daycare ONLY.
Needless to say our experience with walking has been all about Baby Steps!
Lessons learned:
A child will walk when he is good and ready.
All hardwood and tile does not make it very easy for a child to gain confidence in walking (b/c it hurts so bad to fall).
Never EVER let your child just "cry it out" in the crib because even though he can't walk he can figure out a way to fall out.
No shoe is better than a Stride Rite Walker;but I do love the Robeez hard sole shoes and the squeakers.
Don't let your child wear anything too nice to daycare!
Thanks for all the good tips! Sorry about the shoes. That's crazy! Makes you wonder what's going on at daycare :) I'm glad he is walking now. We have all hardwood and tile too, so we might be waiting awhile as well. Not that I won't it to happen anytime soon... he's just now sitting up on his own, and that has happened way too fast for me!
ReplyDeleteOops... I meant "not that I *WANT* it to happen..." not won't :)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe Winston is already sitting up...doesn't seem like he should be so big already! It's so exciting to see milestones but so sad for a Mom at the same time! It feels like time started speeding up on us!
ReplyDeleteRiley had a few good falls on the hardwood when he was learning to pull up and it just totally took all of his confidence away. Oh the directors at daycare have lit a fire under his workers. Thankfully other than a small Clorox stain on a Gymboree shirt this is the only problem we've had in the 16 months so I guess we're lucky. It just HAD to be the GOOD shoes!!