Special Firsts

It all started just two short weeks ago when Evan began standing on his own. I was at work and called Debbie (our neighbor and Evan's sitter) to check on Evan. She broke the news to me that he was in fact standing by himself. I got teary-eyed just thinking of it. She was sweet to talk me through it over the phone, probably sensing that I was emotional. She said, "Okay, he's standing, still standing, still standing, oh, he fell!"

The next day I saw it for myself. I was sitting in the living room sharing a snack with Evan as he stood beside me, using my shoulder for support. All of a sudden he let go while he fed himself graham crackers! I was amazed!

Just one week later I called Debbie again to check on our little man. She said, "we have another first". All I could think was that he took his first step and I was not there to see it. Again, I got a little teary. I was wrong, however. Evan had not walked but he had learned to climb the stairs! With Debbie close behind our little baby (I cannot get it through my head that he's more of a toddler now than a baby!) managed to climb all the way up the stairs!

Of course, when we got home I had him do it for me and again, I was amazed. When did he become so independent? We couldn't wait for Daddy to get home so we could show him the newest first! He was so excited that he immediately grabbed the video camera to record the monumental event.

Since that day, Evan has mastered stair climbing. Sometimes he actually prefers climbing the stairs over and over to playing with his toys (wish that was my preference!). Now we just have to figure out how to teach him to get back down...

So just when I thought we were at our peak of newness with all that had taken place in two short weeks, Evan walked. On the evening of Monday, July 7th 2008 our baby took his first four steps toward me. I was completely overwhelmed with pride. I realize that this is no outstanding feat; he was going to walk at some point in time. But just seeing him have the courage to put one little chunky foot in front of the other made me feel so proud.

It made me think of all those times in our lives that our parents have told us they were proud of us; graduation, marriage, and all the little accomplishments in between. It always just seemed like the obligatory thing to say, "We're so proud of you". I never really understood what they truly felt until now. It felt like my heart was bursting from my chest and I just wanted to scoop him up and swing him around and tell him how great he is (which I did!). Hmmm...maybe I'll have to temper this in the future with lessons in humility!