First Unassisted Step

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I thought the first time Mara takes a standalone step, without holding on to a large item or person, it would be epic.

It its way, it was.

I had imagined it would happen one of these mornings, during her playtime. She would look up suddenly with that decisive look in her eyes. All would become silent, except for the clock on the wall which would seem to also measure our heartbeats.
Mara would get up to standing, brows furrowed with concentration, then she would ever so slightly lift her right foot up, keeping her weight on the other.
A soft drumroll would suddenly be heard out of nowhere as she moved her right foot forward, and most likely trumpets sounding some sort of victory march as she would gracefully land one step ahead of where she was standing a few seconds ago.

Now here's what really happened.

I was holding Mara in my arms in the backyard, watching the birds flying in and out of the trees.
Mara glanced down and noticed a stick on the ground. 

A STICK!!!

Unavoidably, this event became a major priority that trumps all else, so she quickly arched her body and pushed away from me, kinda like the cat in those Pepe Le Pew cartoons (see photo).


I carefully kneeled and laid her down so she can pick up her newest precious.

As you would expect, her emphatic push-away was merely temporary: she wanted right back into my arms as soon as she had tightly secured the stick in her small fist.

She glanced at me, I was still knelt just a foot away from her body. But she had already stood up in a pleased victory stance. 

It was too late now, there was no way she would squat, crawl, and get up again.

So she lifted her left foot off the ground, and demonstrated with her entire body which direction she wanted to go. That is, by leaning herself as much as possible in that direction ...

... and falling.

The fall was painless in my arms, but the event was quite deprived of the glory I had expected. It was a different kind of glory, the kind that teaches you something. That's much more useful in the long run.

What? I didn't say "First Successful Unassisted Step" :-)

Here's a sketch of Mara's evolution from newborn to today:
From left to right:
Line 1: Look cute, Turn over, Tummy time, Rock back & forth, Crawl backward, Crawl forward, Bear Walk, Pull up on furniture
Line 2: Stand unassisted, Awesome squats, Stand!, Stable upright, Tiny leg lifts
Line 3: Stand, Decide to step, Lean way forward, Fall

And here's Mara eating two corns on the cob:

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