Standing tall

Ryan has gotten pretty good at standing and even "walking" but always with lots of help. He's convinced the only way to pull up or walk is by using my fingers. He will crawl over to me and reach for my hand and if I don't give him my fingers, he gets super fussy. I've tried to help him see he doesn't always have to have me, but it hasn't worked. Until now.

So I set him in his room and ran to the bathroom. This is safe to do I promise. Or at least the safest thing to do. We have a babygate to keep him in and the dog out. But anyways, if I have to go, that's where I put him for a couple of unsupervised minutes. This afternooon when I came back to join him in his room, he was standing up holding onto his airplane and just chilling. I couldn't decide if I was surprised or scared or proud or what. But there he was none the less. I imagine he finally pulled up on his beautifully bright red Bulldog rocking chair. I've sort of showed him he could do it that way, but with me in the room all he had ever wanted was me to pull him up. Once he's up he walks from the chair to the toy chest to the airplane to his piano with no troubles at all.

This photo is actually from Tuesday (when he still needed my help), but it's very similar to what I was greeted to this afternoon.