Erin turned sixteen months yesterday, if she’d received a pound for every time someone asked me if she is walking yet she’d have a healthy car/mortgage deposit/uni fund by now.

Erin stood unaided for the first time today, she also walked for the first time with her push along toy, and refused to be spoon fed preferring to feed herself. Aaah my baby is growing up and I’m experiencing the same blend of pleasure, sorrow and pride that we (parents) feel every time a new skill is learned, independence is granted, and every time our babies take a step to toddlerdom, our toddlers become preschoolers, our preschoolers become independant ‘little people’, then teenagers, and so on…

Today it dawned on me that we don’t need to plan every detail of their progression, they will progress alone providing they have the environment to do so. My answer to the constant “is she walking yet?” question is always the same “she’ll walk when she’s ready” if I’m feeling particularly cheeky I’ll point out that there aren’t many grown adults still crawling on hands and knees, unless you include the inebriated clubbers on a friday night.

We clapped and whooped when she stood, and more when she walked with the push-a-long toy, and I allowed and encouraged the self feeding, I hope my lack of eagerness for her to learn to do everything sooner rather than later will result in her being more keen to learn and progress when she is older, without feeling the pressure of a ‘pushy parent’ shoving her along in every endeavour.

When she walks, it will be soon enough. When she talks, it will be soon enough. If she does her best in life, it will always be good enough. And, when she doesn’t do her best I hope I’ll be able to guide her.