Walking and talking!

After taking her first solo steps on the eve of her 13 month birthday, she took it slow with building confidence to let go of things (i.e. the couch, our hands, etc) and keep walking.  She would take a few steps between me and John, but that was about it. Until this past week.

Video of Emma's "first" (early) steps (Oct 26, 2014): Emma's "first" steps

She now will cruise along holding onto a piece of furniture and then keep walking several steps on her own.  She also will walk to Evan, which is adorable to see because he catches her with a big brother hug and then walks her back to me or John so she can do it again.  It's a fun before bed game that we play now.

She is really quite steady on her feet and has great balance.  I've seen her stop and catch her balance several times (including in the video below).  Anytime she falls it is very controlled.  This is comforting to know, as a parent, as hopefully this will help her avoid as many of the forehead bruises that usually accompany a newly walking toddler.  One can only hope at least. 

Video of Emma, now that she's walking fairly well, walking into Evan's arms (Nov. 4, 2014): Emma walking to Evan

In addition to walking, Emma is also talking now!  She copied me the other night when I was saying night night (it was the sweetest soft tone, high pitched, "ni ni").  She also says "bow" or "ba ba" when she sees (and wants!) her bottle.  She definitely says ma ma, but I think that usually occurs when she's upset and wants me.  She also says da da and other sounds (like ga ga and ba ba), but I don't know if she's attributing them to anything in particular or not.  She says "boo" or something that sounds like "peek-a-boo" when we play that game too.  She's actually first said many of these things several months ago, but didn't really start using them much until recently.  I have a feeling that in no time at all she'll be talking up a storm.  I feel like she's been absorbing everything we say and practicing her sounds, and then one day soon she'll just start breaking out in full sentences and skip the one-word-at-a-time phase altogether! lol.