Baby Luke took a few steps yesterday! Yay! He was standing up by me, and Miss Tanita held out her hand and told him to come, and he did! When he looked like getting down on his hands and knees, she just said no, and he looked back at her and kept walking! Sorry for the exclamation points, I'm excited, for Luke and for all of us!
For a while it looked like Luke would walk instead of crawl, he spent so much time practicing and demanding that I hold his hands while he walked around (this can be very painful for the parent's back or for her knees). But then he learned to crawl, and that seemed to dampen his enthusiasm for walking. Recently he's been standing more and more, holding on to flimsier and flimsier things. He stands between two things just further than arms reach apart, and you see him thinking, "It sure is a lot of trouble to get down and up again, maybe I should walk... Nah, not today."
He hasn't taken any steps since then. Eleanor took a break for about a month between taking steps and walking all over the place, and it looks like Luke will do the same. Watch here for updates!
For a while it looked like Luke would walk instead of crawl, he spent so much time practicing and demanding that I hold his hands while he walked around (this can be very painful for the parent's back or for her knees). But then he learned to crawl, and that seemed to dampen his enthusiasm for walking. Recently he's been standing more and more, holding on to flimsier and flimsier things. He stands between two things just further than arms reach apart, and you see him thinking, "It sure is a lot of trouble to get down and up again, maybe I should walk... Nah, not today."
He hasn't taken any steps since then. Eleanor took a break for about a month between taking steps and walking all over the place, and it looks like Luke will do the same. Watch here for updates!
Comments
Amanda waited to walk until she was 15 months old or so, though. She was (and still is) content to stay in one place and observe quietly, unlike her siblings. Maybe walking time is based on personality differences, not weight, after all.
1) The development of the central nervous system (this is related to coordination)
2) Physical readiness (body proportion, muscle strength. You are right that heavier babies do tend to walk later, unless you do special weight training exercises or take away the weight factor by letting them "walk" in water).
2) Environmental support (among the Ache in Paraguay infants spend almost the first three years of their life being carried or kept very close due to safety concerns; in China infants are put on beds surrounded by thick cushions to keep them from crawling on the dirty floor, and this makes it hard to develop upper body strength for crawling; in the US the practice of "back to sleep" is delaying motor development))
3) The child's own personal desire. Some babies like to watch the world go by and others need to be in the action. Anders was motivated to crawl at first because he wanted to pull another child's hair (this child then bit him for several months after he could crawl, so maybe this wasn't a good idea).
Love,
FNDP
It's very handy having you around =)