he will when he's ready, okay?!!!

it's just what i want to SCREAM at people when they CONSISTANTLY ask me 'is kullen walking yet?' it seems that i am asked daily, if not more, if my son is walking and the answer is always 'nope'. i mean walking is a big step - literally - and as a mother, i will brag about it when the time comes - but until then - BACK OFF ME! i feel like people condescendly ask me, so it's like yeah - okay - he's almost a year and not walking yet - WHO CARES?! he will walk when he's good and ready and frankly, I'M NOT READY YET! do you realize that once your child is actively walking, that means all the more chasing and running after them. i am content with my little crawler for the time being. i don't have to worry about his running out the door or away from me in a store. plus, i enjoy him still having SOME baby tendencies - let him be a baby for goodness sake!
i mean, don't get me entirely wrong, i will still be happy when he walks because that is another milestone in his life but the questioning just gets old, fast. and really, it's only certain people. some people can ask me and it doesn't bother me at all because i know they aren't judging and are just trying to find out about him, because they care.
i also know that this is NOT the end. when i can finally shut them up and say YES, HE IS WALKING - it will be 'is he talking yet?' - and this will probably continue for the rest of his life. 'is he spelling yet?', 'can he write his name yet?', 'is he driving yet?' ... and you know, i think it's that word 'YET' that makes people seem so condescending. actually, yes - that is it. back to where i said some people don't bother me as much as others - that's because they will ask 'is kullen walking?' ... it's not 'is kullen walking YET' - like he's SUPPOSED to be or something. PLENTY of kids don't walk until well after their FIRST birthday. some kids walk well BEFORE - it's all different. kids grow and do things at their OWN pace and it's not a reflection of parenting or anything else. and there was a time i thought he'd never crawl and now look at him - he's the fastest little crawler! there for a while he didn't WANT to crawl because he knew he could 'scoot' ... then he realized that crawling was a little faster and began that - and now i think he COULD walk if he wanted too but why, when he can crawl and he KNOWS that he can get places that way? he has begun to stand on his own for more than 2 seconds and will walk with you if you hold his hand so it's really only a matter of time before he DOES start walking
thank God for something jessi [thanks girllll] said to me almost a year ago - i still remember it - it was after brandi and marks wedding and we were talking about babies and she reminded me that it's not like kids will NEVER walk or NEVER talk ... eventually, they WILL. by the time they are 2-3yrs old they WILL be walking and WILL be talking so who cares if they do it a little later than the 'average' kid - and relaly, who's to say what is AVERAGE?! i often think about that little thing jessi said to me and realize that she's right - it WILL be okay and kullen WILL do those things on his own time and until then, he is doing just perfect!
so, HA!