Close Enough? Can I Say He's Walking?

Today was not a good day. Stephen was very, very ill, starting at about 3:30 this morning, and I've basically been up since then with him, bringing him drinks, towels, tissues, making three Kroger runs, dragging him to the doctor and to the hospital. Poor Stephen has been poked, prodded, drained of blood, and basically been turned inside out from barfing. (Yum, I know.) We're both exhausted. If we're lucky, he'll get better just in time for me to get sick and we can swap roles. Good times.

Asher, on the other hand, is luckily too little to really understand or be bothered by any of today's events. Granted, he got cranky because he went a little longer than normal without a nap or a real meal, and was at times fidgety because, well, that's just how one year-olds are. But, leave it to a baby to see the silver lining in the clouds. He got to play with different (and nasty, dirty, crusty, probably disease-infested) toys at the doctor's office. He got to see new people. He got to meet new ladies with whom to flirt. Plus, he got to spend a few hours with Marmie and Grandfather once they rescued him away from Frazzled Mommy and Sickly Daddy at the E.R.

Anyway, it was at the doctor's office when he was playing with the scary toys and flirting with the Carmel Soccer Moms that I noticed something peculiar about Asher: he was spending less time on his hands and knees than usual. He was...dare I say, walking! Ok, so it was still only anywhere from 2-10 steps at a time, but it's becoming more frequent. I noticed he's trying to walk. He'll start to get down into his crawling stance, but then he'll hesitate and stand back up and take a step. He's making a conscious effort! He's walking!

It sucked that Stephen was sick today. I can't say I was unhappy about staying home from work today, but it sucked that I had to spend my day off in the hospital. But, the fact that I got to spend some extra time and attention on Asher and really see him putting his new skills into action was really nice.

Man, it seems like just last week that I was all excited because he finally rolled over! Asher, you've come a long way, baby.