i'm a-walking, i'm a-walking, i'm a-walking to the bathroom

after a day of not doing a lot of walking, dd decided that she would remedy that late this afternoon after her dinner.

she was a bit restless and i guess she wanted a break from looking at her books (she does go through them prodigiously, tossing one aside if she's bored with it), so i sat myself a few feet away from her and asked her to walk towards me. she beamed with glee and a look of determination and immediately steadied herself before taking those few steps to me. with that initial success i moved away from her again and asked her to walk towards me again.

we did this a few more times (sometimes dd would cheat a little and hold onto a nearby object or reach out and grab my hand when she got near) before her daddy came home, when she FINALLY had a proper audience to show off.

she managed to toddle between dh and i a few times before it was time for her bath. when dh went to get the bath ready i asked dd to walk to daddy, thinking that she just might do it since she's been doing lots of small steps building up her confidence.

to my delight, she looked at him and slowly got up. then off she went, making a trajectory to a fan near a bookcase before she steadied herself again and headed directly for the bathroom. wow - this is definitely progress - she did a distance of about 20 ft! and it was continuous walking, i.e. she didn't squat down / stumble / trip / stop!

eta: dd has regained her pre-UK visit weight, which was 11.5 kg. yippee! i suspect that one of the reasons she's a slower walker is that she is that much heavier for her little feet (and proportionately her feet are small) to bear. plus, she also seems to be naturally more cautious, being supremely sensitive to pain. e.g. she'd immediately hold her hand and mouth an "ow" while she looks at me whenever she so much as bangs her hand a little too hard against something.