Well, to be fair he does, but only if he's holding onto something. Like my finger. Or the furniture.
But most of the time, he's content to crawl.
And the irony is not lost on me that at six months, I was bragging my head off to anyone who would listen (including you -- sorry, folks!) that my son would be walking within weeks! At six months, my son was crawling. Standing before seven months.
Surely - surely walking would be the next logical step?
It appears not.
Boy-o, as it turns out, is an incredibly efficient crawler. He's fast. I (who was once the Nunawading Little Athletics under-sevens champion - I'm just saying) once got down and raced him just to see how good he really is. He beat me to the line with no sweat at all.
Fast.
Worriedly, I asked a doctor as his 12-month weigh-in (disguised as an immunisation) whether it was normal not to be walking. My daughter-o didn't crawl til 9 months and even SHE was walking by 13 months.
The Doctor smiled indulgently and told me no, there was nothing wrong with his legs and no, I probably didn't need intervention. Yet.
When Elliott was 10 months old I went to get a skin-cancer check (gotta be careful!) and something the nurse said has stuck with me.
Upon witnessing my son tear his way across the surgery on his hands and knees in half a second flat to grab the scalpel placed seemingly out of his chubby-baby-pawed-reach, she said "you know, I bet your little boy will be a late walker".
"Why do you say that?" I said.
"Because look how good he is at crawling", she said. "He has no need to walk."
And at the time, I took little stock.
But now, Im sitting up and taking notice. Because unfortunately there seems to be little Elliott can't do that he could do if he was walking: He climbs up and down stairs and onto the lounge and our bed and can get out of the bath if he desires. He can make his way out of the house and up the stairs and over the grass and into the cubby before I even notice he's missing!
No folks, my son has decided he has no desire or need to walk.
And so he doesn't.
Why should he? He knows if he stands holding onto my knees screaming up at me he'll get picked up... sooner or later. Little bugger. And crawling is so easy to him. Walking is scary apparently -- and he hasn't quite worked out that you can bend your legs when you take steps. He prefers to walk stiff as a board with one paw wrapped firmly around your finger for support. I mean, how much support can you get from one finger?! But the second you let that finger, BAM! He hits the deck in a panic.
At what point should I be worried? He's only 14 months now, but will my son be crawling into University lectures if I don't intervene... ?
I'd love your own experiences on this -- when did your child walk and were you worried about it? Am I going to be laughing at myself worrying about this in 3 months time?!!? Do share! xx
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| Elliott and Dan. Not walking. Not a problem! |
