Walking?! Really?!

I know the last post was about Xander's first steps, but I still can't believe that he's WALKING!  We went from the first hesitant steps, 2-3 at a time, to walking across the room and through the house!  This morning, Justin was playing with Jax & Xander in the living room before school.  While Justin went to take care of a few things, Xander walked from the living room into the bathroom to find me! That is quite a hike for such a little guy.  :) 

It's been fun watching him learn.  At first, the first few steps were almost by mistake.  Letting gravity take it's course he'd take a step or two and then "fall" toward the intended target.  Now he just pops up and starts walking.  His balance is incredible.  He'll start to fall and then re-center himself.  His favorite thing right now seems to be bending down to pick up a toy (or squatting next to it while checking it out) and then standing back up again.  The only time we see him on hands and knees is when he wants to get somewhere FAST!

Of course this new found freedom does not come without a price.  We've had the house as babyproofed as we felt was needed since he started cruising along on all fours, but now we have to reevaluate what he can reach while on 2 feet.  He's also taken a few tumbles, resulting in bumps and bruises, and more than just a few tears. 

In 6 days, Xander will be a year old.  He sat on the scale last night and weighed in at 22.4 lbs.  I have no idea how tall he is, but he seems to be growing like a weed.  Big changes for him after that year mark.  He'll move on to a new room at daycare (the "wobbler" room), forward-facing car seats (I hope this keeps him happier than his current car seat!), weaning off the bottle and formula as well as introducing whole milk, a mostly solid diet...well you get the picture.  Lots of changes. 

Pictures to come soon!