Houston, we have lift off

A while ago I excitedly posted when Emerson took his first steps. Woo, go little man! But then, I think he realized, "Dude, I'm going to FALL. I'm not so sure about this walking business..." And he hadn't taken any steps since. It was apparently just all a big tease. Good one Emerson, ha ha, joke's on us. He would walk, but only if you were holding him by the hand. JD would call out encouraging words to him in an effort to coax him away from the edge of the coffee table, but to no avail. He would just stand there looking at him with this big smile on his face as if to say, "You're crazy, man." So we just shrugged our shoulders. He'll walk eventually, right? No rush.

And then yesterday while I was hanging out on the couch, Emerson was cruising around the coffee table as he likes to do. Then he took a couple of steps towards his wagon which was nearby and reached for the handle. But instead of grabbing on, he just stood there standing. Then he turned in the other direction all of the sudden and took off walking down the length of the room! When he reached the end of the room he turned around and started trucking back towards the coffee table -- laughing the whole time. And he kept doing that, laps back and forth, walking like an old pro. JD and I joked later that he was probably just waiting to walk until he knew he could do it really well. So while he still looks like a drunk little old man, he's at least not falling all over the place like one.

I managed to catch him on video. Here's the maiden voyage:


This second one is that same day, but later that night right before bedtime:


Mark it on your calendars, folks. July 22, 2009 -- 15 months old to the day.