walkabout

before we left to visit our family at the beginning of last december, this was the extent of caleb's walking capabilities:

 

i kept thinking, i know he can do it, i just don't think he believes he can do it. he would walk holding on to our hands, go on walks and push his stroller outside - we called them and his dump truck his 'training wheels' - and waited for the courage to strike him to let go.

the last 2-3 days of our mainland trip, he decided to do it, at first a few teetering steps to outstretched arms, then wandering out into the open for even more steps before careening to the ground. 

2 weeks after we got home, around early january, this is where we had gotten:

these days, we don't even use the stroller for our daily walks, and caleb loves it, the freedom of it, and the chance to explore by hand all he had only been able to look at before.

we look up to take in the sights:

i'm sorry... is it still cold on the mainland?

we do some rock collecting:

occasionally, in all the excitement, we leave them behind by accident, on a step we like to sit on, but don't worry, they're still there the next day:

sometimes, we get a little side-tracked from walking with just sitting down and taking it all in. at this set of steps we pass by on his favorite route, he likes to sit down and rock a while (i didn't know they made rocking-stairs). we may have to sit down, rock, get up, and repeat, several times, before we can move on:

sorry for the breathing in this clip, it's me trying not to laugh

sometimes caleb gets so focused on something that even after we've started walking again we have to go back and give it another go. we got to where i am standing to take this photo when he had to go back and sit on the stairs a few more times. you can just barely see him, in a patch of shade just a few feet to the left of the bottom of the stairs, in position to back up to the step and reclaim his spot:

 he still falls now and then, but he definitely has come along way from clinging desperately to a dump truck. he comes close to running sometimes, and he has this cute attempt at jumping where he bends his knees, pops back up, and then tries to roll up to his tip-toes. he knows what he's supposed to do, just not exactly how to make it happen. but the part that impressed me the most was when he walked up this hill the other day (it's about 25-30 ft at the top, mostly 45 degree slant, and gets my heart going,) with no help at all:

and he loves to walk over any tree roots, access panels, or grates we find along the way. his newest addition to the routine is to combine 2 great favorites - being outside and peekaboo - with the help of some trees at the bottom of the hill:

most of the time caleb is good about listening to 'stop' and 'come back' and 'wait' (except when we first leave the house - if i don't hold him while i lock the door he's almost to the street by the time i'm done!)  but sometimes his enthusiasm and independence tell him, why not climb a little higher? 

we have been so spoiled by the beautiful common areas in our neighborhood, i know our next location may not be able to rival hawaii on scenery, but at this point, i'm not sure what we'll do without at least some decent sidewalks!