You Got New Legs Little Griffin! (How Griffin Learned to Walk)

Not since Forrest Gump and Jenny saw Lieutenant Dan walking on his “magic” titanium legs have two adults been so happy to see another human being take a few steps. After a long, long wait, Griffin finally started walking last night. We had it so easy with Nolan that Griffin being behind in anything at all probably seems like a much bigger issue than it should. After all, it’s not like either of us expected Griffin would crawl into kindergarten on his first day of school (Although I secretly think Mel really worried about this.). It just feels that way because Nolan was always so far ahead.

Griffin is very different from Nolan in many ways. He’s much more cautious than Nolan in everything he does. For better or worse, he does things in his own time and in his own way. He has technically been able to walk for quite a while, but he would only do so while holding our hands. We weren’t actually holding him up, but if we let go he would drop to the floor instantly. He would walk as long as he felt like he had a grip on something, just like Dumbo thought he could only fly when he had his “magic” feather.

Last night, after weeks of working with him, he decided the time was right on his own. This time, he didn’t fall when I let go of his hand. He looked around for a moment, then started walking like we all knew he could. He’s no Carl Lewis yet, but he gets the job done. (Full disclosure: We were absolutely bribing him with M&Ms to keep him going once he started. Whatever works, right?)

It goes without saying that all of us are relieved (Especially Melanie, who no longer has to worry about being the mother of a crawling kindergartner). That kid weighs over 30 pounds and carrying him around all the time stopped being adorable a long time ago. He’s a giant and now he can walk like one. That’s a huge relief.

The music on this video seems to be hit or miss. Depending on where you watch the video, you may or may not hear it. I’ll try to upload it somewhere that doesn’t strip the music out. Enjoy!