In ten short days, Leilani has really progressed with her walking.
These past days, we could tell when she became tired because her walking became very unstable, with falls and frustration for her. Tonight, despite being somewhat tired, she was walking more confidently than ever. She walked from one room to the other on purpose, looking for one of us or something to play with. She really can “steer” to go where she wants, when she wants. She was even getting excited and almost running short distances, without any disatrous falls.
And the past two days, she has been carrying things while walking. I actually think it is a big motivator for her to walk, and I would believe it was a big reason that humans learned to walk upright. She loves to grab toys, and then she wants to take them with her, but when crawling, they would get in her way. As soon as she walked confidently, she tried to stand with objects or grab them along the way, and now she can do it consistently. She can even play with the objects while she walks, devoting attention to the toy instead of to the walking.
I think both of these abilities show that Leilani has begun to master the walking, meaning she can do it unconsciously instead of needing to focus on the act. And that will open up a whole new world of experience for her (and we’d better get ready).