"Is he walking yet?"

I am sick of people asking this question? Battleaxe Auntie said to my mother who said to me; "Shouldn't he be walking by now?" and it seems to be the first question people ask when they have not seen me or Jamie for a while. And of course there are the competitive mothers / grandmothers. I am thinking of the Granny at Babysigning on Thursday who said "She's only a year" after asking how old Jamie was, while her granddaughter was walking past him on the floor. She did say that she was a younger sibling and I know that many younger siblings progress at a fast pace as they have someone to copy (So there!)

Last week he walked while only holding one hand of Daddies and then at the weekend he stood up from sitting all by himself so its only a matter of days now.

He has been 'cruising' for months now and we actually thought he would be walking by his birthday as he was so quick to crawl and then to cruise. He is just so good at crawling its probably been easier - and quicker - for him to crawl than to put all that effort in standing up and walking.

And anyway, if you look on the Internet it says there is no need to worry unless they get to 18months without walking:

Over the course of his first year your baby will gradually gain coordination and muscle strength throughout his body, learning to sit, roll over and crawl before moving on to pulling up and standing at about eight months. From then on it's a matter of gaining confidence and balance. Most babies take their first steps sometime between nine and 12 months and are walking well by the time they're 14 or 15 months old. Don't worry if your child takes a little longer, though; many perfectly normal children don't walk until their 16th or 17th month.
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/development/walking/

How to Help:
When holding your child while trying to make him walk, don't hold his legs or hands. Hold him by the torso. You can encourage your baby to walk by standing or kneeling in front of him and holding out your hands, by holding both his hands and walking him towards you, or by buying a toddle truck or a similar contraption he can hold onto and push (look for toddle toys that are stable and have a wide base of support). Because baby walkers make it too easy to get around and thus can prevent a child's upper leg muscles from developing correctly, some experts strongly discourage using them. You can also hold off on introducing shoes until your baby is walking around outside or on rough or cold surfaces regularly; going barefoot helps him improve his balance and coordination.

Jamie has a trolley (with bricks) he likes to push about and he also has a car which he can push along. Now that we are having such nice weather we have been able to go in the garden a lot and let him walk up and down the garden with his toys.

We shall see what the next few days bring....