Small Steps, Amazing Achievements!

As you know, I recently bit the bullet and bought S her first pair of shoes. 

At first, she didn't like them very much, and it was a battle to get them on her feet.

Then she realised that if she was wearing the shoes, I'd let her walk outside. And she could explore more. 

Pretty soon, I'd turn up to pick her up from nursery and they'd tell me, "she caught sight of her shoes in her bag when I changed her nappy just now, and wanted them on!"

Yesterday, I managed to get home to drop off my shopping and handbag before I had to pick S up from nursery. So I wandered back down the road with just her Little Life backpack, my purse, and the keys.

When I arrived to pick her up, she was enjoying song time in the corner with her friends; she kept looking up and smiling at me, but was in no hurry to leave... she was wearing her shoes though!

For the first time, when we left I didn't even bother putting her in the sling. Instead, I carried her across the road and into the entrance of the shopping centre. She wandered happily around the shopping centre with me, saying hi to other children, and generally charming the public.

We wandered around Superdrug, then I bought a drink and we wandered round the shopping centre a little more, before she led me into BHS (worst possible choice as not only is there no aircon, they always seem to have the heating on), wandered through the sale rails, and then plonked herself down on the floor and took her  sun hat off.

All in all, I think she walked about 300 metres. Although the shopping centre is paved, there's a big feature in the middle (where the Christmas tree goes) that's sort of cobbled - and we had a good old wander over that. She only fell over when we went into the shop, and she was clearly knackered. I was so impressed! 

300 metres is nothing to an adult, but when your legs are tiny and used to just kicking about in a buggy all the time, it's a long long way to walk! She kept turning around to see how far she'd come!