Baby Contemplations

Walking
To pull himself upright, to strain upward, to climb has been baby's obsession for the past 4 months and now, with his 1st birthday past, it is that urge I celebrate. He has pulled himself erect by the strings of our hair, by using clothes, hands, earrings, by the edges and the rungs and the unstable handles of the world. He has yanked himself up, stepped, and it is clear by his grand excitement that walking is one of the most important things we ever do. It is raw power to go forward, to lunge, catching at important arms and hands, to take control of the body, tell it what to do, to leave behind the immobility of babyhood. With each step he swells, breath goes ragged and his eyes darken in a shine of happiness. A glaze of physical joy covers him, moves through him more intense than the banged forehead, bumped chin, the bruises and knocks and solid thumps, joy more powerful than common sense. Walking is the thing; he has to walk to gain entrance to the world.