To walk or not to walk?

[Patrickz]

I have a question for you guys. Alex has been standing on his own and taking a few steps here and there but hasn't started to walk as a regular thing. He would rather crawl real fast and then stand. This has been going on for two weeks now. I was always told that once they take their first steps it is off to the races with them. Should I be helping him or is he going to just do it on his own time. Not a big concern but a little one. :???:

[Bollux]

Being I went through this with my son for like the last month, I can honestly say don't fret. My son would walk from object to object to grasp onto to but never just go it alone. We gave him some time to be confident in himself and last wed. he decided he could do it himself. Now he is walking about like frankenstein. Just hang tight and let him discover it on his own.

[Jackson's Dad]

I was always told that once they take their first steps it is off to the races with them.

Nope. There's no one way all this stuff happens, so don't worry about it. Jackson took his first steps early, but took a couple months (if I remember right) before he decided to switch to walking. A nephew of mine didn't want to walk until he was closer to two (no, there were no developmental problems, just he didn't do it) and now he's walking like every other kid his age.

[tt3]

Tara was the same way. Its more likely that people who say "first step and then off to the races" have their memories dulled by time, or relativity. From first step to walking was probably several months or more, but five, ten, twenty years down the line it'll seem like it was a blink!

[Indy]

It took Rachel about a month to get the hang of walking. At first, she'd "walk" from one item to the next, never taking more than a step or two. Then she started wall-walking, moving from place to place by using the walls or furniture for support.

It seemed like one day everything just clicked for her and she came toddling down the hall and into the office. It wasn't a gradual 3 steps, then 5 steps, then 7 steps sort of thing. Once she figured how to shift her weight from foot to foot, she quickly mastered the concept of walking.

[sao95]

I think the off to the races was a sort of metaphorical statement that got entrenched and dulled over the generations. A fun way of saying "oh boy now he'll venture into everything"


I think Louis hit the mark on that. It took Jilly a bit as well and we also used a push behind toy (a train in her case, Big Lots for 10 bucks if I remember correctly), it helped alot.

[Weston]

Alex was the same way... he discovered he could walk, but very akwardly. He also realized that he could still get places quicker by crawling fast. So he'd crawl real fast to a spot he wanted to get to, then stand and wobble around. After about a month he got profecient at walking and the crawling stopped for the most part. No help needed by us.

[Patrickz]

Great! I have a normal developing child and no malfunctios to date. and thanks guys for the posts. He did more standing and and throwing this evening. To me it would take less balance to walk then it would to hurl a quatro block 5feet while standind on your tip toes. :???: :lol:

[Jackson's Dad]

One suggestion: let him stay barefoot a lot. It's a good way for him to get a feel for standing and getting his balance.

[Patrickz]

Good, as thats what he has been up untill now. I rarely had him in shoes as it seemed silly since he couldn't walk. He has been taking longer and longer walks the past couple of days and it is so fun to watch. By-gole he is todling guys! :D

[justinpowell]

Congrats Patrickz!

[Bollux]

Yeah my son got to walking like 2 weeks ago and now he is a holy terror, running about everywhere. I just love watching him run about too, makes me smile. Though now he can grab everything and boy does he ever. I think I need to put my computer desk on cynder blocks to keep him away from it.

[justinpowell]

Oh man, when I had twins with legs and hands going I felt like every item in the house was getting relocated. You just couldn't keep up with them!