Kennedy is learning to walk, all by herself. Well, almost. As many of our friends will remember, Will and I were adamant that we wouldn’t help the twins learn to walk. Partly this was a scientific experimenty-type thing – we wanted to see how the girls would learn things without an over-eager first-time parent coaxing  pushing  dragging  encouraging them through all their milestones as quickly as possible. Oh come on. You know what I’m talking about. Sadly, we were guilty of some of it ourselves with our first daughter, Bridget. It’s part of that big “Mommy Competition” that goes on at every playground, playgroup and playschool in North America. The conversations go something like this:

 

“Wow, little Alice is starting to pull herself up to standing! That’s really great. My Alex (Mom beams with pride) started doing that a few months ago. Look, now he’s walking at just 8 months old! Isn’t he brilliant? We’re so very proud of him! Blah blah blah…”

 

Look at me walking all by myself!

When I had Bridget, I found the constant comparisons of whose kid was hitting what benchmark at what week a little … intimidating. Bridget was my angel, and in my eyes, the most amazing, special, delightful, talented, gifted and precocious child to ever grace the surface of this earth. And so she should be – as her mother,  it’s very natural to see her in that light. However, when I step back and view Bridget with more reasonable, unbiased eyes, I can honestly say she is a lovely if not relatively average kid, with some real talents and other struggles, but overall, a pretty normal kid.

 

So when we first started telling people we were having twins, we got a lot of the common comments: “Woah, double trouble!”,  “Won’t you have your hands full!”, and even “Glad it’s not me…”  But some of the more astute parents would give you that knowing look, and say “Just wait until they’re both moving… and in different directions! Now that’ll be something…” And you know what?? We took that comment to heart, for there was truth to it. We knew that once the girls started to walk, life would get that much more hectic, that much more chaotic. So Will and I made a pact. While we would do everything in our power to love and cuddle each of our three girls as often as possible, and provide each one with as much “one-on-one” time as we could between the two of us, we would try to avoid helping the twins get mobile. In fact, we even used to joke that if either of us caught a twin pulling themselves up to standing, we’d gently knock their knees out from under them!

 

KC on the move

Whoops!

Bridget shows Kennedy all the neat toys on the front of her walker

  Well, Kennedy is now ten and a half months old, and she has been pulling to standing on her own for the last 2 months. That first few weeks, I did actively discourage it, but as time went on and I could see how badly she wanted to get moving, how longingly she looked at her older sister as she ran around the room, i started to soften. Maybe I don’t need to discourage this, i thought to myself. Now, that doesn’t mean I will encourage it. But maybe I don’t have to fear it quite so much. Look how adorably happy she is, standing holding onto the “pigpen” gate and dancing back and forth.

 

Last weekend, while playing downstairs, Bridget discovered her old walker, folded up in our storage room, and dragged it out. “Look Mommy, you forgot this toy for the babies!” It was love at first sight. Now its rare to see KC without her little walker, in those rare moments when the girls are allowed to freely roam our main floor. She delights in pushing it around our clutter, and loves to have her sister’s help when she gets stuck in a corner. They even play with the toys on the front. So far Taylor has shown no interest, and even pushes the walker away if KC brings it over to her.

 

But I know it won’t be long until it’s her turn, and likely by then, KC won’t need one anymore. And then they will be able to go in different directions, at speed. And as those knowing parents mentioned, “now that’ll be something…”