Miss Independent

Carson's desire to be her own person and do things herself has been showing up here and there for awhile now: 
-There was the month or so she changed her mind about solid foods and decided they probably weren't for her. 
-And there's the way she shoves your hand away if you try to help her with something she'd rather figure out on her own...or lately if you try to take something she's not finished with yet.
-And now that she's eating again (in a much pickier fashion), she'd like to hold the spoon herself for every bite, regardless of the percentage of food that actually makes it into her mouth.

And now, there's walking.  Just a few days before she turned 9 months old, Carson took her first steps. We weren't even trying to get her to walk at the time. Brandon and I were just sitting on the floor in the den near the coffee table. C was standing between us, with me supporting her. I let go of her so she could stand on her own, which she loves to do. And suddenly, she was at the coffee table--3 steps in a row like it was nothing! Brandon and I looked at each other, trying to figure out if what we thought just happened really did--and then we cheered and hugged and basically scared the poor child half to death. She didn't walk again for about an hour, after recovering from the shock of our excitement.

She has been walking a little bit more each day since then and doesn't usually wait for us to prompt her.  In fact, she doesn't want any help at all.  Period.  If you reach out a hand to support her, she shoves it away impatiently.  Sometimes our only warning she's about to take off is this proud and daring look on her face, a big grin, and she shrugs her shoulders up and takes off! So fun to watch!  Last Thursday was the first day she walked more than she crawled, less than 3 weeks after those first few steps.  And now it's her preferred mode of transportation.

And now I (and by "I", I mean "Brandon" for most of these) have a new "to do" list:
1. anchor big furniture to walls

2. get a gate for den to keep dogs out

3. reconsider owning a wolf (a daily task at this point anyway)

4. do a much better job cleaning

5. figure out how to keep her from trying to move out at the age of 5

And here's a video of some of her walking adventures over these past few weeks:


A few side notes about this video:

Some of the clips were taken with cell phones, so please excuse the lack of focus.

Despite what it looks like, we don't just crumple up trash and leave it on our floors.  Carson loves to tear up magazines and other papers, and some days it's just not worth cleaning it up until after she goes to bed.

I got the super-long clip by setting up the video camera and just letting it run while we played one morning.  She has a 6th sense when she's being filmed, so I had to take advantage of her 'walking mood' when it hit her.  Therefore, please excuse our pajamas.

Yes, those are Brandon's socks she's toting around for some reason.

I'm not motioning to my imaginary friend--Moe is just outside the camera shot (I swear!) and I was working hard to keep him that way.

Congratulations, Carson!  We're so proud of you!