Walk like an Egyptian

The Banker's of Houston took their first extended (non-weekend only) family vacation last week to the white sands beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama. Amelia walked in sand and stood in ocean waves for the first time. Watching her giggle and clap when the white water washed over her feet was quite inspiring and satisfying, and she complained greatly when one of us would take her away from it. She loved it, obviously, so I'm sure that beach vacations will be repeated in the future - much to my chagrin.

Amelia has also begun walking. Without a walker. She started just before we left - one to three steps between people, and then crash. We worked with her during the trip, and now she has much more confidence and is taking 10-12 steps at a time. She's gone from people helping her stand and balance her body to pulling up on furniture, turning and walking to whomever she feels like walking to. Last night it was from the TV, around the couch, around Asta, and to me.... smiling like a Cheshire cat along the way. Like any parent, we're very proud of her accomplishment - I think she may be the only child in the world that has ever learned to walk.

She is quite the busy body now, crawling - and walking - and it's everything Xina can do to keep up with her outside of nap times. Her last endocronology appt and Pedi appt went well (although the Pedi thought she had a retracted eardrum and put a little scare of the unknown into us. It turned out she doesn't). And we have therapies starting back up next week, including speech. People said that she wouldn't start talking until she wrapped her head around walking first. So now that that's made progress, I'm interested in finding out what her first run on sentence will be, and if it will contain any 4 letter words I have accidentally let slip in front of her. (Xina will tell you they didn't slip, but that I don't restrain myself properly. I can't really argue that point). Nevertheless, I'll blame it on my dad.

We'll get pictures up as soon as Xina feels well enough to download them.