Two Steps

The other morning Mr. Peach got up with Pearl and let me sleep a few more hours and so he got to see a special sight: Pearl taking more than one step for the first time! I guess that's called walking. She took two steps between the coffee table and the sofa with nary a stumble.



Part of me is thrilled at this new, big, important skill she's developing and wants to encourage it: I hold out my hands to her as she stands with one hand on the windowsill and say, "Come to Mama, come see me!" and watch, smiling, as she thinks about it and gets as far away from the windowsill and as close to me as her little fingers can stretch and her little feet can step, but she isn't quite ready to let go yet and crawls to me instead, and I'm happy then, because I don't want her to leave infancy behind just yet, even as my heart swells close to bursting with pride over this milestone.