Climbing & Stepping

I would not go as far as saying that Natalie is walking but she took a few steps tonight without holding on. As I remember with Hannah who also took steps right at the end of 10 months....it took about a month before she switched over to walking completely. It is crazy to think that by Thanksgiving my little baby girl might be walking all over this house!

Natalie's FAVORITE and I mean FAVORITE activity right now is to race up the stairs to a landing half way up our staircase. She turns around and grins when she realizes you are paying attention and then hangs her head and arms over the edge of the top step as if she is going to just come tumbling down. If you let her continue in this rather dangerous position she usually changes to a sitting position and begins to make her way down the stairs. She is actually very good about coming down on her tummy or on her bottom. I remember Paul teaching Hannah how to come down the stairs but I am pretty sure he didn't teach Natalie. It is amazing to me how babies figure stuff out on their own! Needless to say, I am not crazy about this hobby of Natalie's. It is giving me a heart attack about 5 times a day. She is good on the stairs but how many Moms do you know that would let their 10 month old play on the stairs? She has pulled the baby gate down and on top of herself twice and so now I'm resorting to moving our rather large coffee table to the bottom of the stairs. Ugh!

(This is a terrible pic...i need to capture a better one. But this is how Natalie likes to come down the stairs....notice someone is ready to catch her. I wish I had caught her silly grin in the photo! She is so proud and excited to go up and then come back down all by herself!)