9 Steps

Yesterday Benjamin and I found a pink balloon in our yard. We knew it belonged to his beloved babysitter, Kayla, who lives next door and just celebrated her sweet sixteen, so we took it to her.

Lo and behold, she still had a bunch of her birthday balloons tied together in the front yard, where there was also a wonderful stick that Benjamin dutifully picked up, helpful lad that he is.

(Yes, I'm getting to the 9 steps.)

Kayla's mom and I were chatting while Kayla played with Benjamin.

Suddenly, we were all stunned into silence as Benjamin, waving his stick, took off across the yard to get to the big bunch of balloons. He was walking, no one holding his hand. He must have taken at least 10 or twelve steps — so far we had seen him take 3 at most.

Here's a video taken a few minutes later as we tried to recreate the event for his papa. We counted nine steps this time around, but it was at least his third or fourth march across the yard.

-maman