Lauren Goes Shopping (and Learns How to Walk)

So up until yesterday, Lauren still wasn't walking much. In fact, she had kind of regressed since she took her first steps a few weeks ago. To be honest, Sean and I really didn't care, but her teachers at school seemed concerned because they have three crawlers moving into their room soon and they need the older kids to be walking.

Anyway, we thought we'd help the teachers out and I found this shopping cart online. As those of you who have visited our house know, we don't have a lot of extra space, and Sean has banned all unitools (you know, things that can only be used for one purpose). So this shopping cart will serve as a walker now, and much-needed storage for the toys Lauren likes to distribute throughout the house, and later she can use it more as a toy (play kitchen coming soon to a Power House near you).

The shopping cart arrived last night, and by this morning Lauren was walking from point to point by herself, without the cart. Amazing. Her teacher said that she walked almost everywhere today on her own. Money well spent, I suppose. Added bonus: she thinks pushing the cart around is the greatest thing ever. Her dog lovey is a frequent guest in the cart, as is her sippy cup. Next project: teaching her how to turn the cart so we don't have to follow her around pointing it in the right direction all day.

Lauren Walks!

So we've been really busy. Sean and I have both been busier than ever at work, and to top it off we hosted the summer party for the Lathrop associates at our house on Saturday, which involved a lot more work than we anticipated. So poor Lauren has not had the full attention of both parents to which she has become accustomed. Perhaps in an effort to get us back on board the attention train, she walked for the first time on Friday, in the midst of the craziness.

I got to school to pick her up and her teacher came to the door whispering for me to go into her old crawlers room and watch her in secret from the Dutch door there. So I did, and sure enough she stood right up and walked to Ms. Carolyn. I started crying, it was so moving. And her old teacher Ms. Chrystal was crying, too. It was such a great moment. I can't believe she's not my little baby anymore. She's a big girl now.

She did a lot of "finger" walking this weekend (holding on to Sean's and my fingers), but not a ton by herself. But I have a feeling we're really in for it now.