We threatened her with "the state"

and she got to walking! To back up a little, Emery has been slow to walk independently, as I've mentioned before. Now that she's 20 months old, and I'm about 8 months pregnant, my somewhat laid back attitude about it all has begun to dissipate, and quickly.

When I called her doctor to see what I should do, she said that we would need to meet with someone from Early Intervention, which is a state-run program that helps children with developmental delays. We scheduled a meeting in which someone from Early Intervention would evaluate Emery and determine if she was sufficiently delayed enough to receive physical therapy.

Since Emery has been showing so much potential as of late to walk on her own, my hunch was that Early Intervention would just conclude that she is stubborn and dead set on walking on her timeframe, not mine ... and hopefully provide me with some tips on how to get her timeframe moved up a little.

Nevertheless, we've been joking that "the state" is coming for Emery and she'd better get her act together before Dec. 12 ... or else!

Perhaps this had some effect, because this morning I stepped out of the room and returned to the kitchen a few moments later only to have Emery walking up to me, albeit a bit like a drunken sailor. And she proceeded to do this over and over and over again today, proving to all of us that she is ready, willing and ABLE to walk.

HOORAY!! HOORAY!! HOORAY!!

(I know news of this nature merits a video, but I wasn't able to get one today. Will try to get one posted soon)