OK, as of this weekend, Alana is really walking. While she could before, she was very timid about it, and avoided walking most of the time. She has finally embraced it. On Saturday I was alone at home with her, and decided to take her to the park. It was a fun trip, and towards the end I found a flower patch surrounded by a very low railing which was just the right height for Alana to hold onto. She latched on and started walking around the flower patch, holding the railing. The “patch” was pretty big, easily the size of a room, so walking its circumference took Alana several minutes. She must have circled that thing 5 or 6 times, but she gathered speed and confidence with each round.

Since then, she walks with confidence. This morning I woke up to her strolling right into the bedroom, babbling up a storm.

Tonight we had dinner out to celebrate the last night of the Chinese New Year holiday at a restaurant called Shanghai Tang. It was a nice meal, and afterward Alana started walking around again. There was one point, as she walked through a doorway with a drawn curtain, that felt symbolic to me. She’s finally crossing that milestone in her life. I was grateful that she looked back at me as she did it. Then she strode forward, on her own. After a few steps she lost her balance and fell down. She picked her herself back up without a sound, and continued walking forward, undeterred…