The baby is learning how to walk. Its so amazing to watch. I was always under the impression that one fateful day, the baby would suddenly throw aside the plastic bag or hanger or whatever they were playing with, get a glimmer in their eye, and then rise up as if being pulled by puppet strings. Then they would begin to move forward, haltingly at first, but then with gusto.

Ive come to realize, as with most things, that its really so much more subtle than all that.

One day I noticed that she was watching everyone and their methods of transportation. Some people moved very quickly, with large steps and others - those closer to her size - moved slower and with smaller steps. She started moving along furniture, amazed by what those two legs of hers could do. Still, crawling was much more efficient.

But then she started to indicate that she wanted to practice walking. When Nick got home from work she would crawl to him and pull herself up on his legs. He would then hold her hands as she walked around the room. This was very exciting to her; whole new worlds were opening, as well as new levels to explore.

Then one day, she was practicing her walking and Nick had her balanced, standing all by herself. At that point, she took several steps forward into his arms. Both he and I erupted into cheers and clapping. She just looked at us like she had no idea what was going on - this was obviously something she had been working on for some time - where had we been all along?!

Since then, shes been walking more and more steps each day - with more and more assuredness each time. There was no real distinct moment where she suddenly threw off her proverbial shackles and chains and started skipping through the house.

And I guess my point with this whole thing is that everything seems to be more subtle than we think it should be. Everything is changing constantly and new ideas are coming to fruition while old ones are dying. This is the way of life. Generally, there is no sudden awareness; there is only our day-to-day struggle. But once in awhile, well get a little glimmer and well start to take some baby steps.