At approximately sometime-in-the-evening, yesterday, December 8, 2007, young Benjamin David took his first independent not-holding-on-to-anything steps. It is estimated he moved three feet*.

The Natural Mommy has the story:

As Josh was walking through the living room, Benjamin crawled over and latched onto his Daddy’s legs. He then pulled himself up and started bouncing. Josh looked down at his bouncing baby boy (literally) and declared, “You know, Benjamin, you could walk if you really wanted to.”

Benjamin took this into careful consideration. He sat down to ponder the possibilities.

Josh, in the meantime, moved on.

Then, out of the corner of our eyes, we saw Baby Benjamin pick himself up to a standing position and take THREE STEPS before falling onto his face. And lest you think this a fluke, he has repeated this performance multiple times, both at home and in the church nursery for astonished onlookers.

Just shy of 8.5 months, he has stolen the Crown Of The Overachiever away from his sister who walked at a full 8.5 months. (But then, she was born a week early and he a week and a half late. I’m sure this ruling will be contested in due time.)

*All estimations are prone to exaggeration.