one step, two step, three

Anna this week took her first official steps, well sort of. We have been working on her walking for a while now and I know she is really interested because she sees Sophia having all this fun while she is on her feet. So for some time we would walk with her, holding her hand to give her some help with balancing. She could walk with out our assistance but every time we let go of her hand she'll freeze up and instead of taking more steps, she'll slowly drop to her knees. Well yesterday the girls grandma and grandpa Benson came by to do some babysitting since our daycare

 provider had the day off. While they were here their grandma devised a great plan: to walk with Anna not holding her hand but let Anna hold a toy that grandma held in her hand. This worked well and fine for Anna and after she became good and comfortable with this new system, grandma slowly and slyly let go of the toy while Anna (thinking her grandma was still assisting) took one step, two step, three! Then she, getting a bit unstable realized she was walking on her own and dropped to the floor. The planned worked! Whether it will work again in future remains to be seen. I'm sure we'll give it a go again here within the next day or two and see if she can walk a few more steps on her own. It's only a matter of time before she has the confidence to walk around on her own It sure would be nice if she was walking around before her birthday arrives in just a few weeks.  

Here are a couple pictures of the girls from last Sunday when they went over to auntie Trista's for some play time with their cousin Tyler. I tried to get a good shot with Tyler in the picture too, but their cousin being camera shy was to fast for me and always managed to get away.