Welcome to Babyhurst.

I am not quite sure how walking is quantified, but I think that Josiah meets the requirements. He has taken approximately 9 steps in a row, and he is able to walk from one item to the other around the house. He still elects to crawl most of the time, as this is still a much more efficient mode of transportation. He is able to stand up, bend over to pick up an object, and stand back up again. Indeed, my child can walk. Now he is just perfecting his new skill.

A few days ago I realized that we have lived in our house for 6 months. A lot has changed over those six months, including our plan to stay just a few weeks turning in to a plan to stay 5 or 6 more years. I realized, however, that during the busy shuffle of the last 6 months, we have managed to not make a single new friend in our neighborhood. This is pitiful. We know our neighbors, but this doesn't qualify. We should at least have ONE new friend. I have often wondered how to break in to the Mommy circle in the neighborhood, but when I have gone to the park I haven't run into any of the moms I have seen out and about. Sunday afternoon I set out on a walk, praying that the Lord would let me run into another mom. I just kind of walked around our neighborhood, and while we were on our way home and resolved that we weren't going to run into anyone a lady with a dog and a stroller turned the corner. PRAISE THE LORD!

The dog was a good icebreaker, as I explained that Josiah loved "Dog Dog"s. The lady lives a little less than half a mile from me, and she has a seven month old son. We were talking about the neighborhood and I mentioned my failure to meet other moms at the park. She looked at me and said, "McKoy?" I was thinking, "Excuse me, what? I do not know that park." Diane told me where I could find the park that she said leads many to jokingly call the area "Babyhurst" instead of "Oakhurst." I listened somewhat encouraged and partly disappointed as she described a baby depth pool where babies galore and their moms spent the whole summer. I had been going to the wrong park, apparently. This park is about the same distance away from our house in the other direction, tucked away on a dead end street. I had been down the street before, but I had never walked to the end. One has to walk to the very end of the street to get a glimpse of the park.

So, we broke the code. We know where to go. Josiah and I walked down there and examined the park and on our way home met a very nice couple with a baby only a month younger than him. Of course. Jonathan and I took him over to the park yesterday afternoon, and apparently we will keep going until we, too, stumble upon this Babyville and manage to make a friend.