one small step for man...

Although I'm not sure how much of a "giant leap for mankind" this represents, but Holden has been taking his first steps throughout the past week. He's not walking yet, but he is trying so hard to get there. He has been able to stand on his own now for at least a couple weeks, sometimes for quite a long time (esp. if he has toys or snacks in both hands, distracting his attention from the fact that he's not holding on to anything for support). And a couple times this past week, Holden has decided to take some mini steps forward on his own before he crouches down and crawls or sits.

One thing I've decided recently as a parent is that the big "firsts" that are supposed to happen (like first words, first steps, etc.) ... well, there seems to be a lot of gray area here when it comes to defining them. For example, Holden has been saying "dada" off and on for some time -- and probably with some intentionality behind it -- but we're just not sure it's an official 'first word.' He's also working on "uh oh," but is that even a word? Every once in a while, I swear I hear him say something much more complicated (like "elephant"), and then it doesn't happen again -- so does a baby need to say his or her 'first word' a certain number of times for it to count. And how legible does it need to be. Some of Holden's "dada" utterances might be just as random as the times he says things like "elephant" or "I did it" -- but these certainly don't count, right? Another example is this whole 'first steps' thing. Does it count if he isn't walking, or do his official 'first steps' need to be those steps that lead immediately into walking. Sorry for the long tangent here, but someone needs to chime in on these gray areas of parenting sometimes (or we'll all think it's just us that think these things ... and, I know it's not).

On the daycare front, Holden has been continuing to enjoy his days away from home. No consistent napping yet, but they are working to transition him to one nap for his eventual move to the "toddler classroom." But he gets to play with other kids, and do fun activities like painting, playing with water, and International Wearing Pants on Your Head Day (for which we've been preparing Holden with months of practice).
On the other hand, Holden has had this nasty cold (probably a side effect of daycare). Today, the daycare center called us to pick him up since he had a runny nose. After an unnecessary trip to the doctor, we have a letter that will clear him to return tomorrow (but it made for a rather crazy day). I assume this is just the beginning (ugh).

While all of this comes far from being categorized as a "giant leap for mankind," having a child continues to be a "giant leap" for us parents, at least. And an awesome leap, at that.