Papaw's visit and Jill's walking

Jill took her first step on the Sunday after we got back from Tucson. She was standing holding onto the coffee table, she turned and reached for the wicker chair by the window and had to take one small quick freestanding step to reach it. I saw her do it and I was so excited that I scooped her up and spun her around the room!

Later that week, Jill took three steps from a stand in front of Mom and the girls and they all cheered for her. But it still was quite a while before Jill really walked. We would play the "stand" game where I would stand Jill in the center of the room, take away my hands and say, "Aaaannd, stand!" and then count, "One, two, three, ..." while she balanced. Jill would stand there grinning ear to ear and soon could balance for 30 seconds at a time. As I backed away from her she would take up to 10 wobbly steps to stay with me.

The week of July 4th Bryan's parents and Papaw came to visit. We all stayed at my mother's house so that we could enjoy the beach and Papaw could see the ocean. This trip was actually going to be the first time that Papaw would see the ocean. When we walked down the street to the beach opening and the water first showed over the sand I asked, "What do you think, Papaw?" and he said, "It's awesome."

We had a great week. Rich, Patty, and Papaw took a day trip to Kennebunkport during the time that Bush was there with Putin. They saw helicopters flying over the Walker Estate. We drove up scenic Rte 1A from Seabrook to Portsmouth and walked around Prescott Park. We also celebrated Anna's 5th birthday in elaborate princess style. She got a Disney Princess bike with glittery streamers. Jill was very taken with the bike.

We also got a chance to meet Angie, Rob, Evan, Teresa and Doug in the North End for dinner. We went to Pagliucas and Mike's Pastry.

All the while Jill kept on taking 6-10 wobbly steps at a time. What she was really proficient at though was walking on her knees! She knew that crawling prevented her from moving while carrying anything good, and that we really wanted her to walk, so she found a short cut. She would kneel and walk on her knees all over the place. She could move really fast!

It wasn't until the week of July 22nd that she really got it. She learned how to stand from a sit in open floor and then something just clicked. She was walking all over the place!