"That kid will run before he walks"

That was a joke people liked to make when they saw me running races pregnant. I laughed and didn't think much of it.

But then The Lorax turned 14 months and he still wasn't walking. Again, I didn't think much of it. But then people (i.e. impromptu pediatricians) started inquiring: "He's 14 months and he still isn't walking???" I'm not sure what they were worried about. I mean was he going to turn into a 30 year old man who crawled down the street to the store? (If that were the case, I imagine he would still shake his booty in the exaggerated way he does now just to get a laugh.)

Then last night I was sitting at the computer trying to find Kara Goucher's training plan and the sheet music for "Night After Night" by The Sounds, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but The Bois, rising on his own (as he'd never done before), walking across the kitchen floor, over a power cord and a big wodden slat in the doorway, turning a corner and running down the hall to find SR in the distant bathroom.

Some (kinder) people had suggested "Why would he walk when he's such a fast crawler?" Well, I guess he's finally found something faster.

I was reminded of the lengend of my dad. As the story goes, my dad was a good 16 months and still hadn't walked a step. He then, in front of many guests, stepped out of a closet with hangers in his hand, and walked across the floor whistling a little ditty. I'm not so sure how true the whistling part is.

The point is, babies and kids have their own schedule and the way they develop is so fascinatingly varried. I mean, certainly my dad's late walking didn't signal any sort of cognitive delay. He famously told his mom when he turned 4 that he was ready to start school, so he started kindergarten a whole year early. He's now perhaps Wisconsin's best medical malpractice lawyer and a fantastic acordian player to boot.

Well, I'd love to hear all of your baby development stories and folklore.


I could play guitar and rope a steer before I learned to stand.

If you can name the song those lyrics are from, you've impressed me and named the running song of the day.