Baby steps

That's right! Chou-chou has officially taken his first steps! His very first steps caught me quite off guard, and inadvertently caused me some physical pain too... We were over at my friend Christine's house last Thursday (9/25, 12.5 months), playing somewhat happily with her and her 15-month old daughter Leila. I say somewhat because Leila had a thing for Chou-chou's hair and kept touching his head, which for some reason really bothered Chou-chou and brought him to tears several times. Just as Leila was going for Chou-chou's head one more time, he took two steps and fell into my arms, whacking me hard on the face with a wooden maraca as he landed! I was so overjoyed by his very first steps (which Christine saw and can attest to as well), but the tears in my eyes were from the sting of the hurt on my face. I wish I could say they were from the pride I felt as Chou-chou's mama:)

Chou-chou took two steps, in the same style, the next evening in front of Jarod too. Since Friday, he has consistently taken three or more steps in a row. I just got home from class and Jarod informed me that Chou-chou took five fairly drunken-looking steps this evening while I was away. It went something like "one, two, three, (stagger) four... five, fall!" That last step is always a half-erect, sort of fall thing. Hard to describe.

We're so excited to have a new walker! My hope was that he walk by Halloween, so that he could toddle around in his costume that I plan on making him one of these days. As if he'll actually be able to walk to more than one house! Everyone says "be happy he's not walking yet... just wait" in a knowing way, as if Chou-chou weren't already extremely mobile. Perhaps there's something I'm missing that I'll soon find out about, but everyone said the same know-it-all thing about crawling and yet I was so thankful when he could finally move around on his own. I suppose I'll find out soon enough one way or the other. I think it might just be something people say to say something. Hmm.

So I've made Chou-chou some cute clothes lately, and I made the cutest outfit for his friend Marina's first birthday this past weekend. Unfortunately I was in such a scramble to get it finished before the party that I didn't have time to take a picture of it before I gave it away! I'll put a picture of Chou-chou in his crazy-bright spaceship outfit I made him up here. I'll admit the fabric's a little wild, but it's fun, and when else can you get away with wearing something like this, really? I have also made Chou-chou a shirt with his name on it and some flannel-lined bamboo pants in a turquoise that are pretty cute and comfy. I wish I had some, and Jarod wants me to make him some camo ones for hunting:)

We've been house hunting like crazy these past weeks and have already had our heart broken on our favorite that went sale pending before we could get our offer in. I had already imagined our little family smooshed in the cute living room together, taking walks to the nearby farmers market and local eateries on the weekends, playing in the backyard. Ahh... I know the perfect house is out there, and Jarod keeps reminding me that we're not in a rush (we were originally planning on waiting another year), but I can't help but get excited at the prospect of laying down roots in our family's first real home. Not that our apartment isn't a home, yadayada, but I'm sure anyone that's reading this, if anyone reads this poorly maintained blog, will understand and agree. Wish us luck in finding our spot, pretty please.