Walk this way

Lately Liam has really started to take to this walking thing. Originally, he didn't seem all that into it, and then one day Chad brought home this hippo, which helps him practise walking as he pushes it, and which later converts into a ride-on toy. Since the hippo came home, Liam has played with it a ton, and has gotten to the point now where he can almost do full laps around the house without us. He falls surprisingly infrequently, and has figured out how to turn it so he can keep going in circles. Last weekend at my sister's house, he got more practise in with her toy train, and that was also the first time I saw him cruising; he did a few laps around her coffee table, and then shuffled back and forth between the coffee table and the sofa a couple of times. The day after we came home, I left him in the church nursery, and the staff there said he hadn't been interested in playing with blocks or trucks as usual, but rather, he wanted to practise walking (holding their hands) the whole time he was there. He has been slow to hit many of the babyhood milestones (which used to freak me out, but which I now attribute to his laissez-faire attitude toward life), and I had assumed that walking would similarly take some time; but now I'm starting to think it might not be so far off, after all.