Toddling

My child is officially a toddler. I don't know about the age part, but he definitely toddles. He toddles all day long.

He has gone from cruising (which, for those of you who don't have kids, is when they "walk" by holding themselves up on furniture/walls/parents, etc.) to a few steps and then falling, to full-fledged walking around the apartment like he owns the place. Which, of course, he basically does.

He can stand from a sitting position without pulling up on anything, stand there for a while deciding on his direction, and then walk in chosen direction for 30 or 40 steps before deciding that walking is boring, and he'll sit down again. He can lean over and pick something up without falling down (sometimes), and he can almost always change direction without falling down.

Now I realize most of us do this every day without fanfare, but he's 10 months old. This is pretty quick for a baby. Most babies aren't doing this until they're 1 year old, or older. Some of his baby friends who are older than him are just now crawling proficiently. And it's all totally normal, because babies all develop in different ways and at their own speed. But it's still kind of crazy that he's doing this already.

It's also painful. For him. We are all aware of how accident prone he is (the bruises all over his face get questioning stares when we're in public...and NO, I DO NOT beat my child about the head and face. Jeez.) Well walking just makes it worse. He gets so intent on his feet he doesn't watch where he's going, and WHAM-O, face first into the table/wall/metal locker/arm of the chair. And he's getting rug burns from all the times he tries to run (RUN?! Are you kidding me?!?) and face plants on the carpet.

Is it time for the leash, yet? :)