The boy can stand up all on his own!

Yep, for just over a week now Austin has been standing up without the aid of furniture, walls, toys etc. and is almost ready to become an official walker! He hadn't repeated his first steps since his birthday until I had him outside in his bathers on the really hot day we had a week ago, and he pulled himself up to a stand using the drawf agapanthus as a crutch. In his excitement he ripped off the flower heads and then stood there, holding the flowers in his hands witrh a bemused look on his face. I told him "Look baby! You're standing all by your self!" and he gave me a tremendous smile! Which in turn made him lose his balance and fall straight onto his bum.

He then struggled for 30 secs to stand up again, but the flowers were gone, so hje had to do it by himself, and he managed just fine, thankyou very much! But the moment he did he got excited, started giggling and lost his balance. This went on (up, giggle, fall) for about half an hour before he tired of it and he even made two tiny steps toward me, however cautiously. I am beginning to think he must have walked on his birthday without really realising as Andrew had been holding his hands when the excitement of his new car gripped him and I think all he was focusing on then was the new car, not how he managed to get there. But this time he is really comprehending that he can do it on his own, and once he does it, he tries again, entertained by his new abilities. So much fun to watch.

In the past week or so he has attempted to walk a few times, giving us a few steps here and there, and becoming more stable on his feet every day. He will be running around with Elizabeth in no time!

Now onto my photography challenge... It is getting hard to get a decent shot of Austy every day, especially now I am working full time (and studying part time), come home to a tired boy and have to just snap a couple of quick ones in between dinner and bed time. So far I have only missed one day, which I will make up for at the end of the month. I am impressed with some and horrified at the rubbish I have taken on other days, but I am certainly improving, even if it's one step forward, two steps back some days. I will attach the link to my challenge photos in the right hand column under LINKS on this page so you can feel free to have a browse. There is this thing they call EXPLORE on the photo website which shows the "most interesting" photos for the day. I have only seen really good professional looking shots in there (often taken by pros) and I have been surprised as three of my challenge pics made it in there, even if they only got to #226 (226th best photo) for the day... I know there are thousands of good photos put up every day, so getting into explore is an achievement for me, which I never thought would happen. This challenge is really helping me, and Austy will have some nice photos for later on.