These shoes were made for walkin'

Today Edith tried on her Mary Janes for the first time. They complemented the tuxedo pants she wore to a 30th birthday party for our friend Laura. And they must have had some magic in them, because she tried out her bipedal moves at the party.

We've learned that the whole game of identifying babies' firsts is more ambiguous than it would seem. Is a baby's "first word" the first syllable he utters that happens to mean something in English, the first syllable he says deliberately, or the first word he uses repeatedly in the correct context? And when does a baby "start walking"? When she firsts puts one foot in front of the other? When she first does so without holding onto anything? Or when she begins to walk as her preferred method of locomotion? These things really develop gradually, rather than overnight.

Edith has taken unassisted steps several times now, but she still crawls to get where she wants to go--or walks while pushing furniture, or walks while holding onto an adult's fingers, itself a fairly new development. She took those unassisted steps without realizing it: when making for the dog or a ball just out of reach, and when she had hurt herself and wanted mama, a few feet away.

I don't know whether she realized she was walking yesterday at daycare, but her teacher sure was excited. Edith's daily box score from Ms. C exclaimed, complete with multiple smiley faces, "Edith started walking today!" On the back was written, "At noon Edith walks to me! Only six steps but it is a really good start! She is really walking....Have a good weekend with Edith WALKING! Maybe she walks more this weekend!" It's nice that Edith's teachers take as much delight in her milestones as we do.

And Edith did want to practice more this weekend. Today at the party we hit the right combination of factors. Laura and Brian's apartment has an entryway with white tiled linoleum, which seemed an attractive runway. Her Mary Janes, with slightly stiffer soles than her everyday shoes, may have given her steadier balance. An audience of adults sitting around may have inspired her, too. And one of the guests, a soon-to-be-father himself, found just the right touch: Several feet in front of Edith, he dangled a giant blue spider named Lulu. Edith met Lulu at Laura and Brian's house several months ago; maybe she wanted to renew the acquaintance. In any event, Lulu seemed incentive enough for her to make her way about five feet across the linoleum. Several times.

She also found a stepstool just her size and figured out how to kneel on the bottom step and hang over the top step to bat a balloon back and forth with anyone willing. And on playing with several of her hosts' books, she babbled animatedly for the first time as if telling herself a story while turning the pages. She still wasn't looking at the images, but she seemed to know that a stream of specially pitched language accompanies a book.

Meanwhile she continues to perform her four parlor tricks: clapping, patting her head, showing how big she is by reaching her hands over her head, and waving goodbye...all on command. It's thrilling to realize she understands some of the things we say.

This is getting fun.