It would make more sense here to say “Hazel is WALKING!!!”… but for all intents and purposes, she *has* been walking for about four months. Her balance and coordination are great, she bends over to get things, drags you wherever she wants to go… she has just never realized one tiny detail: she can let go of whatever adult/bigger kid hand she is holding. I can’t even tell you how many hours Mikey and I, our parents, Ella, Eden, and Cana especially have spent walking this child in laps around the house, around the yard, up and down the driveway, through stores, all over the place.

I think Luca had a little talk with her yesterday. Twice while we were over there she let go and took four or five steps between adults. This has happened before here and there since the week we left Canada, usually when she’s really tired or distracted. She was neither, so after the second time (and MUCH demanding that Grandma Jan walk her around the house), I said to no one in particular, because Mikey was out picking up pizza, “she’s going to walk tonight.”

Well her first bedtime came (and went without success) and no walking. I’d forgotten all about it. Second bedtime didn’t take, either, and still no walking. At 10:45 Mikey came in to make a third go of it, and he mentioned that she just took some steps. Not really huge news anymore. I was tired and annoyed.

“Whoa, she just did it again!”

a few seconds later…

“Come look!”

He propped her on her feet and she expertly toddled over to me and let me plant a huge kiss on her cheek before she turned around and went back to Mikey. We cleared the livingroom floor and let her have a go at the entire length of the livingroom – no problem! Now, even though she has WALKED just fine for months, for some reason I thought that when the day came that she would let go, she would still go through all of the fall down / get up / teeter around / be really awkward about it stuff. I don’t know why I thought that. My mom kept saying, “you know she’s just going to GO, right?”, and I didn’t really pay attention.

Well go she did. She proceeded to walk all over the house, wherever she wanted to go, for 45 minutes straight. Tripping and falling down and getting up and bending over to pick things up or set things down or inspect things, pausing to play, getting up and walking somewhere else.

It’s very weird.

Two days ago she was scootin’-little-Hazel.

Yesterday she became pigtails-walkin’-Hazel, and she wants a GOAT.

It’s also very weird that I live in a time where, as soon as Hazel takes her first solo steps, Papa can download a 99 cent iphone app that turns his phone into a video camera so he can video the whole event. I have *always* lived in this generation, obviously, but have always felt out of my element here. THAT was weirder to me than my tiny little lady charging full-speed ahead into my arms, only to push my hands away roughly while she spun on her heel – NO ASSISTANCE, MAMA – and walked back to her papa. I don’t know how to put a video here. I’ll have Mikey show me someday.

DANG son, what ELSE have I been missing? I am SOOOO good at this!!

Listening: one-sided conversation between Hazel and Paisley
(I am) Reading: nothing but crafty blogs for two days
(Hazel is) Reading: Trucks, Trucks, Trucks
Working on: blue & gold blanket; dishrags; um… cleaning?