Brycen took his first steps at 10 months old but stopped shortly after making a hard fall ( I don't blame him) and his legs would just turn to jello if we even tried to let go of him. When he turned one, I googled how to encourage your baby to walk (it was getting hot outside and I wanted Brycen to be able to wear shorts without getting his knees all scraped up as well as not burn his hands on the hot cement as he crawled) and it said that there really wasn't much that could be done, they just walk when they're ready. So, I decided that if he did anything on his own (standing on his own, taking a step, etc...) that we would just clap like crazy for him while saying, "Yay!!", encouraging him as much as we could.
It worked! One day, I was doing dishes and noticed something new as Brycen had pulled himself up to a standing position on the couch and was looking like he was contemplating on how to get to his toy, a few steps away. I dropped everything I was doing, picked the toy up, held it out, and encouraged him to walk to it--and he loved it! For the first time in a long time, he took some steps and fell, (I clapped like crazy of course) and he loved the thrill of it and wanted to do it again. I was SO excited and proud of him. When Daddy came home that night, we surprised him and Brycen walked from Mommy to Daddy. Daddy's face just melted as he twirled Brycen around saying, "Good job!! Yay!!" after Brycen walked to him.
It still took a few weeks for Brycen to walk consistently, he could go short distances, but would chicken out if there was no end in sight and would just resort back to his comfort zone of crawling. Finally, one day at the park, the bark chips were enough incentive to keep walking since crawling on them hurt.
As you will see in the second section of the video, Brycen was so used to deserving claps when he walked, he became his own cheerleader! haha. We found it hilarious! Enjoy!
P.S. Please ignore all background noise in this videos, it seems like every time I video tape, a car alarm goes off....the bugs come out...Mommy sounds silly, etc. :)
The walking journey...
Even now, Brycen is a pro at walking and we don't clap as much anymore, but anytime he hears, "Yay!!", he automatically starts clapping. It's adorable! :)
We love that he walks! He doesn't get as dirty, we don't have to carry him AS much (he still loves to be carried), and he is able to do things around the house (throws away his own diaper, retrieves laundry and brings it to Mommy to put in the washer, etc.) Brycen loves it because he can carry things so much easier (when he crawled, he would often carry his toys in his mouth) and is so much faster when he is chasing us (and when we are busy...the cat) and is being chased (he LOVES chasing, our cat is still NOT a huge fan...and might never be. haha).
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