Toward Walking

I lie on the floor and within a few seconds, Matthew is there. He places both hands on my tummy and gets into a squat position. Then he sticks his butt up in the air and his hands come off my body. Suddenly, he is standing above me, all 31 inches of him. His hands are in the air at first, but slowly, as he grows confident in his balance, they drop to his sides. He grins. I applaud. He falls onto his bottom and laughs.
Jonathan would never do that.
For two little boys who look alike, eat alike and laugh alike, their approaches to walking couldn't be more different. While Matthew is determined to stand unassisted, Jonathan simply giggles and buckles his knees when I try to encourage him to lock his legs with no other support. But he buckles them slowly, using his quad strength to lower himself gently to the floor.
Jonathan prefers to practice his balance while in motion. He focuses on bridging the gaps between the coffee table and the recliner and the coffee table and the sofa. Like our older children, he will

likely bridge that gap hands-free one day and the era of walking will begin.
Matthew is taking the harder path, but it doesn't matter. Whoever succeeds first will lead the other.
That's what they do, these brothers.

(I haven't learned how to do captions yet, but I'm getting there. In the meantime, I'm using the old fashioned technique here. Matthew is standing in the top photo. Jonathan is holding the recliner. I rarely dress them alike, but we have no plans to go anywhere today.)