Have I mentioned that L. is walking? Sucks to be kid #3. We’ve seen it all before.

Actually, the reason I haven’t shared the news is that she’s pretty sporadic about it, and really only took more than 3-4 steps at a time this weekend. But her first steps did come about three weeks ago, making her the youngest B. girl to be uprightly mobile, beating C. by a week.

Of course M., who waited two months longer than her younger sisters, did not mess around. Once she started walking, she never stopped. One of my favorite memories of fatherhood is the morning after M. took her first steps. I was laying on the couch watching Sportscenter and she was playing behind our loveseat, where I could not see her. All of a sudden she comes walking around the corner with a big grin on her face, like it was the most normal thing in the world. It freaked me out a little.

C., on the other hand, took her first steps and then only took a small number of steps for several weeks. Which is kind of funny because once she got going, she quickly learned how to move at the fastest possible speed and has never slowed down.

L. seems to be more in that mold. For the last few weeks she’s been taking short strolls between a couch and a coffee table, for example. Finally over the weekend she started walking for 4-5 feet at a time. She’s still mostly crawling and cruising, but a couple times a day she’ll bust out steps and do the standard, “Hey look at me!” smile and laugh, often will some self-congratulatory clapping thrown in. I keep saying how this stage is my favorite and it’s moments like these that I will miss most. The happy look of a kid who is figuring things out and is extremely pleased with herself. You can be in the worst mood possible and that will always make you laugh.

She’s also up to eight teeth, and we’re hoping for quick arrival of the chewing teeth in the back of her mouth. Homegirl does not dig on the baby food at all, preferring to eat things we give her off of our plates. Once she has some chewing teeth, that will be a lot easier to do, expanding the options from small pieces of fruit and bread. We’re very excited that our current container of Similac will be the last one we ever buy.* We have a few days left then it’s all milk, all the time.

(For our kids, of course.)

❖