Gracie Walks!

Gracie took her first independent step when we were in California in December, however, she would never take more than one step by herself. Each time she took one step, she reconsidered and returned to crawling. Yesterday, January 20th, I came home from work and was playing with Gracie. She stood up and Daddy walked in to the room. She took one step. Daddy stayed where he was...we both stood expectantly, wondering if this would be the day she took step two!

She took another step. We beamed a smile at each other. She didn't stop there. She took a little half step...then another step...and another. She took four big steps all by herself!! We were beaming and applauded her. Then I turned to Daddy and said, "Now, we're in trouble!"

Gracie continued to "practice" walking the rest of the night. She would stand up a short distance from something (e.g., Mommy, a toy) then take a couple steps toward it. She's catching on...and quickly!

This morning I heard her giggle again! It had been a while. She's been ill much of January and broke out in a full body rash on Monday. I took her to the doctor who said it looked like Fifth's disease or some similar viral disease. Nothing we could do except keep an eye out for signs of an ear infection. I must say, since the rash broke out, her spirits improved. Now her rash is nearly gone. She does still have a lot of boogies and a lingering cough. But she is laughing and smiling again. Whew! I missed that!