For quite some time, Hugo has had a little red wagon sitting in the doorway of his bedroom just begging to be played with. Claire and I have pulled it out a few times to show Hugo, however despite our best efforts – he was never really interested in playing with it.

Since Hugo started walking, lots of different objects around the house have suddenly become more interesting. For instance, he now loves to drag the rubber non-slip mat out of the bath, carry around a pair of Claire’s red thongs and more importantly, tow his little red wagon around as well:

Having trouble viewing the embedded video, watch Hugo Lattimore Pulling His Little Red Wagon on YouTube.

When Claire and I are out at the shops with Hugo, we like to let him walk around as much as possible. He really enjoys strolling around whatever shop we’re in, exploring the different nooks and crannies and touching as many different things as he can manage to get his hands on.

Whilst out doing some grocery shopping just before Christmas at Woolworths in Upper Coomera, Hugo was walking around like normal. However this time, there happened to be an unused shopping basket to one side of the isle. Of course, since he loves to help out with whatever we are doing – he proceeded to pick up the shopping basket, fiddle with it so he knew how the handles worked and went shopping.

Having trouble viewing the embedded video, watch Hugo Lattimore Helping With The Shopping on YouTube.

At the end of November, Hugo realised that he could stand up on his own and began taking his very first steps.

It is completely amazing how quickly little people learn different things from being able to flap their arms in excitement when they are only babies, learning to roll over, sit up, crawl and subsequently balance standing up. I have to admit, I find it fascinating to watch it all unfold right in front of your eyes.

With only a week of practice walking, Hugo has gone from only just being able to stand and take a few steps to being able to walk quite a distance with a pretty reasonable amount of stability, all things considered.

Having trouble viewing the embedded video, watch Hugo Lattimore Wobbly Walking on YouTube.

Hugo has been able to pull himself up to his feet without our help for at least six months. The different perspective that standing provided for Hugo, over crawling was exciting to watch. While being able to stand up was a big achievement, the real excitement happened when Hugo realised that he could move around so long as he had something to lean on for balance. So for at least the last six months, he has been crawling around the house and subsequently standing and shuffling about with something to keep balance against.

During September 2009, he began letting go of things while standing for short periods of time. Of course, that excited Claire and I which made Hugo clap and give himself applause for his efforts. Only two months later, toward the end of November, Hugo realised that he could stand on his own without anything to stablise himself. Of course, as soon as that happened – all he wanted to do was stand and the natural thing after that was walking.

We were lucky enough to catch some of Hugo’s very first steps on my iPhone, while short in length – it is jam packed full of memories.

Having trouble viewing the embedded video, watch Hugo Lattimore Learning To Walk on YouTube.