M'hijo Milestone

My camera has been in the shop for WEEKS and it is starting to drive me crazy, because guess what has happened with M'hijo during those weeks?  Just about everything, is the answer.  He is changing very fast and every day is a new adventure. 

The biggest adventure, of course, is walking.  He took his first steps around mid-December but, like his sister before him, didn't show a tonne of interest in getting better at walking for a while.  In the past two weeks, however, he has had a change of heart and has decided that walking is his greatest joy in life.

It's the greatest joy in my life too at the moment, I don't mind telling you.  The look on his face when he's doing it, combined with the funny way he holds his hand ("pitchfork" position) and the teeny little quick steps he takes all add up to my having a permasmile these days.   

Yesterday was the best: I took him to Willows beach and he walked around outside for the first time.  I am tearing up right now just thinking about how wonderful it was to watch him cruising around the beach, stopping now and then to eat a little sand or stress me out by almost giving himself slivers climbing on the logs.  And all the strangers on the beach shared his and my delight and I got to tell lots of people "It's his first time walking outside!" and everyone was so happy for him and with him. 

Later, he delighted all the parents waiting outside Sahsez' art school by doing a repeat performance on the sidewalk.  The thing that gets people is that it's just so clear that he's terribly pleased with himself.  His eyes say it all:  "Aren't I great?  Can you SEE what I'm doing here?  Isn't it AMAZING?"

So can you blame me if I curse the shop that is taking so long to fix my camera?  Yesterday was exactly the kind of day when you want to have a camera handy.  But then again, would the experience have been quite the same if I had been intent on documenting it the whole time?  I doubt it.