It wasn’t that long ago — maybe even a few weeks — that I was worried this kid would never walk.

He had first started crawling back in October (last year!) and we were sure he would take his first few wobbly steps by his birthday the following month.

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

Instead, Landon decided to ramp up his crawling, motoring around the house like one of our dogs. Suffice it to say, he got really good at it.

But like many first-time moms, I was worried he wasn’t keeping up with everything I was reading online, everything other moms had told me. He was approaching his 15th month — and still not walking. I had friends whose kids were walking by nine months! And here he was, 14 months, 25 pounds, perfectly content to get from here to there on his hands and knees.

Was there something wrong with him?

No. There was clearly something wrong with me.

It’s crazy to think of how far Landon has come — and in such a short amount of time. He went from rolling over to crawling to cruising in a matter of weeks. I can barely remember him immobile, laying (not lying because I had to place him there) on those activity playmats, marveling at a plastic turtle that played music and lit up.

Even back then, I was desperate for him to start walking, to start talking, to start being a little adult already. (Maybe get a job, pay rent…) Every parent I said this to would laugh and say, “Be careful what you wish for!”

Crawling begets cruising. Cruising begets walking. Walking begets running. Running begets the phrase, “There goes the neighborhood.”

Honestly, while I sometimes miss the days when I could put him in one place, walk away and feel pretty confident he would be there when I returned, I am pretty stoked about this new milestone. Walking is liberating — for both of us. Not only can he walk himself from his bedroom to the kitchen for breakfast — he does weight 30 pounds! — but he’s able to go wherever he wants, all those toys and window louvers and remote controls that he couldn’t get to before, he can now. Yes, it’s more work. Yes, I’m way more worried about things like dressers and bookshelves falling on him. Yes, I’m more tired than I’ve ever been in my life. But it’s so much more fun.

But this wasn’t his only milestone.

While I was waiting (not so patiently) for Landon to walk, he was accomplishing many other amazing things. Like pointing at helicopters when he hears them. Or saying six letters in the alphabet in the right place in the ABC song. Or doing the hand motions for “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “The Wheels on the Bus.” Or knowing which shapes are circles, squares, stars, triangles and crosses — and putting them in the right slots in one of those shape-sorters. Or knowing who Elmo and Cookie Monster are. Or picking up Indy’s ball and, instead of eating it, throws it for him to fetch.

And I’m not even teaching him these things!

Now I can’t wait for him to talk — I know, I know, I won’t be able to stop him — and watch movies with me and snuggle with me in bed on Sunday mornings and surf with me and cook his own breakfast and help me walk the dogs.

Because all that begets the rent he’ll owe me, too. 🙂