How long after standing by themselves do they start to walk?

[egoldber]

Today Sarah stood by herself for the first time. Yay!!! I am curious how long it might be until she starts to walk. We are going to the Caribbean in 3 weeks and I would DEARLY love for her to be at least toddling by then anyway. I don't care if she's running, but toddling would be great.

Any thoughts? What was your experience?

FYI, we planned this trip months ago, when we thought SURELY she'd be walking by now. Grumble, grumble...

TIA!

[nohomama]

With Lola it took about 5 weeks to progress from pulling herself up and furniture walking to toddling around unassisted. I'd say Sarah will be well on her way by the time you take your trip but every kid is different, as you well know.

[twins r fun]

Not sure how helpful this will be since they all do things differently, but here's my experience (I pulled out my calendar to get these dates right.

Caleb:
Stood on October 20th
First steps on October 22nd
Lots of steps (10-12)on November 15th
Walking (i.e able to really move around this way) on December 31st

Jacob:
Stood on November 6th
First Steps and Lots of steps on January 5th
Still not walking

Based on my experience, she won't be toddling around the Caribbean, but who knows! I will say that Jacob is progressing faster than Caleb (maybe because of age, maybe because he's watching his brother) so maybe since Sarah is older, she'll progress quickly.

[atlbaby]

Got Arielle's baby book out for this too :)

October 20 (how's that for timing these birthday buddies Nicole!) she stood alone and also took her first steps (really only 3). She just let go of the couch, stood for a second and walked. Then she didn't do it again for exactly one week (and it was again a few steps only), but after that it was like lightning! I swear she was toddling for just a few days and then really took off. So, given her age maybe Sarah will progress really qickly and you *will* have a near-running toddler for your vacation --sounds like fun!! :)

PS--I think watching them stand up from the floor (as opposed to letting go from furniture) is so fun to watch! Arielle began to do this on Nov 2 so it's right around the same time, and I videoed it bc it was so hillarious to watch her figure it out :)

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01

[mama2be]

All I can say is how exciting Beth!!!!

[mommychic]

How exciting Beth!!

I just wanted to say thank you for sharing Sarah's experiences with us and for making us realized that it's OK for them to do things when they are ready. I remember when she was getting her first tooth! :) My heart breaks for your little cutie when people ask you "Why hasn't she ____ yet?" All in time. Your a terrific mom and great web friend!

PS I'm always the curious one: May we ask where are you off to now? :) Some of us envy your "jetset" life! :)

Lisa

[egoldber]

We are going to a small resort on Jamaica. I joke with my friends that the only way I get to see my DH, since he travels so much, is to go on vacation! (We conceived Sarah around his business travel schedule, how sad is that.) And most of our vacations are long weekends where we tag along on his business trips or we use frequent flier miles that he has earned from business travel.

Right now we have over 600,000 miles on United that we are REALLY hoping we can use before United gets into any further financial troubles!

And I really hope she walks soon. Not just to get rid of all the countless comments, but I am SO ready. I know it brings it's own troubles, but sometimes it would be REALLY convenient for her to walk. And there are a number of classes and activities that I would like to do with her, but they assume your child is walking, so we can't participate.

Thanks all! I didn't expect folks to drag out baby books! I appreciate it!

[atlbaby]

Your trip sounds amazing!--freezing here :(
I can very much appreciate never seeing your husband and conception 'schedule'--DH is a resident (emergency medicine) and people always say 'when'd you have opportunity to conceive?' (true, but it's sad, not funny! )
Anyhow, I *love* writing in Arielle's baby book, so thanks for the opportunity to bring it out and add some stuff in!! We just flew with her for the first time since she was born--first time since her birth for both of us too--so that went in the book now.

Please keep us updated on her progress, and how your trip goes!

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01

[spu]

have a great vacation beth!!
I wish we were all going with you! (though I'm sure it will be nicer for you and DH without all of us! :) ) How exciting to be taking Sarah with you! We've been blanketed in over a foot of snow for about a month now!

enjoy!!

susan

twin girls 7.20.02
charlotte & else

[megsmom]

Yay, Beth!

Little Meg I think started standing for brief periods when she was 10-11 months but didn't really start start walking for her main mode of transport until 13 1/2-14 months. Some babies need to to do a lot of standing before they are ready to walk, others just take off soon after standing. If you want to facilitate Sarah standing (can't help it, I'm a P.T.!) try lining the sofa, end tables, etc. with her favorite toys and books. Pretty soon she'll be doing a lot of playing with 2 hands and not holding on, and ititiating this herself. I did this to entertain Meg and keep her in the room with me when I was exhausted or picking up and it really helped her balance. You might also spend a lot of time holding both her hands and "walking" her around the house. It's not great on your back but they love it. Heck, Beth you probably already do all of this, so go ahead and ignore me. You always think of everything. :)

I'll be wishing for those good ol' days of premobility tomorrow when Meg is arching in her stroller, trying to throw herself out of my arms, etc. as we are in the airport. Hopefully we can avoid head injuries this time around (long story, everyone else :)). So if little Sarah isn't toddling by then, she'll be less likely to injure herself in strange airports!

Don't worry, Beth it will be soon! It's too bad that those classes are exclusive. A good teacher would be able to adapt the class I think.

HTH,

Jen
mom to Meghan 7/13/01

[twins r fun]

Wow! That is too funny-we should get these two together, maybe they're soul mates!

Nicole

[egoldber]

Thanks Jen! Actually, I had not been doing those things, at least not regularly and deliberately with the intention of speeding up walking. My personal philosophy has always been that she'll walk when she's good and ready without intervention on my part. I have also read that intervening only improved outcomes by a few weeks (NOTE: not applicable to many children with special needs), but in this case I NEED those few weeks! I will try some of those things today.

Also, to clarify, the classes would have been perfectly happy to take my money and let me enroll. It was more I didn't want to spend the $$ on a class that she wouldn't get a lot out of since she couldn't join in on many of the activities.

And I really want to take her to the playground near our house and things like that. I feel like I just can't do a lot of the activities with her that I think she would really enjoy.

Have a good trip!

[Melanie]

I think it was a few weeks...Ds really liked push toys though, I think it peaked his interest in walking.

Mommy to Jonah

[sweetbasil]

DS's little popcorn popper push toy was the first thing he used to really walk with (as it lacked the support his other push toys had). We have this funny picture of him holding onto the popper with one hand, and it looks like the popper is just flying away and he can barely keep up. From that pic, I guess he went from standing to running! ha.

What a fun time....I hope you enjoy your trip, too!

[atlbaby]

I *wish* DD would play with her push toys! I got her the Little Tikes push/ride on scooter in Sept when she was cruising, and all she does is climb on it and yell to be pushed around! Maybe when it's nice out she'll enjoy it outside...
As for the popcorn popper, my mom got her one for Chanukkah and my in-laws got her a wagon to pull...no interest. She just carries the popper with her and looks at it strangly :) My mom and MIL keep asking about the toys though, LOL. It's so odd what some kids gravitate to and others don't, isn't it? I suppose that's how all those companies make their big $$$s.
-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01