an early Christmas present

Ashton decided to give mommy and daddy their Christmas present two days early--he can walk! We've known he could walk for quite a while. He's had great balance and would even take a few steps from couch to couch or brave the 3 feet between me and Kirk. But he just couldn't get the confidence to walk a longer distance, or walk to a toy that wasn't jumping up and down, squealing and bribing him to come over. And standing up on his own? Forget about it. But that all changed--literally overnight--on December 23 (happy birthday, Joseph Smith!). Ashton decided that night that he wasn't going to sleep until he mastered the art of standing and walking around the house. He was up until midnight, squealing and laughing and just being so very proud of himself (and destroying the house as you can see from the video).

Good job, Ashton!!