Walking

Well, Ashton our world is different. It is both larger and closer. It is at a hands grasp and one tiny step away… that is right. You are officially a walker.

I never really gave thought to everything this milestone meant. I knew it meant adventure. I knew it meant fun. I even knew it meant trouble.
What is the reality?

More play in our house. I sit and watch you and Kaden play with such glee. You chase one another. You hide from one another. You join in with one another. The interaction you two have is fantastic. You are friends finding so much fun in the other. There is almost a secret language the two of you speak through looks and movements. I relish in witnessing and including myself in your secret club.

We run. We wrestle. We dance. We twirl. We fall. We play hard all day. I have learned I am too old for such days!

Play means more laughter. There is a different tone in the house. The days are sillier. We laugh more.

We also hear the words: no, share and be kind a LOT more. You feed off of one another. Kaden tries to get away with that of a one year old. Ashton believes everything in the house is his and will fight with white knuckles for it.

Things have to be not only out of reach, but out of sight. If Ashton sees something he wants he will become determined to acquire it. He climbs. He gets onto the couch. He has been found standing on the bottom handle of the drawer pulls in the kitchen as he is grasping the top pulls for balance. I have repeatedly saved him from the Craftsman toy workbench. It seems to be his favorite place to get a birds-eye-view of the living room.

I joke saying Ashton is like a shark- needing to keep constant motion in order to breath. I am starting to think this is no tale. The boy has wiggled and kept movement since birth. His poor legs and feet tire, but his mind and body are still full steam ahead.

He gets so excited he trips and falls. It won’t be long until he is running. The kid is a ball of vigor and at times vinegar! I hear more and more he is a bit like me.

As the days are longer with the sunshine filtering in our days are fuller.
There are more toys sprawled throughout not the living room, but house. There are more cries and moans for help as they both get into pickles. There are more eggs on the head from falls to the wooden floors. There is more kindness and interest as I watch what developments come with walking.

What walking has really brought is a great noise. A noise of life and family I had never heard before his steps. Sure, Kade walking was monumental for Adam and I. We waited months with great anticipation for our first child to walk. However, with our second child there is fullness unmatched having Ashton walk. It brings a purer sound of (pure!) chaos.

It is the noise of hearing the steps of siblings; and with every step it is shaping a unique relationship. It is a noise that tattles without words. It is a noise of mutiny on Mom as I am officially outnumbered by cries, laughter, distraction and mischief-making. It is a noise going unheard signaling situational distress. The noises of what walking has graced our lives with have saturated our walls. I can still hear it long after bedtime. I can only imagine my heart will hear the noise of ‘walking’ long after.