In his quest to walk, Ian has recruited the help of a PLAYSKOOL walker, which looks something like a cross between a lawnmower and a payphone.

At first he was skeptical of the walker. His grasp on the handle was tentative, and he took lurching, doubtful steps. He became more and more confident in his steps, and finally came to trust the walker’s stability – as long as he was walking in a straight line. A wall or chair or cat would stop all forward movement, and he’d crawl away from the walker – now broken, as far as he was concerned.

Watching Ian cross the barrier from livingroom carpet to kitchen linolium was always fun.

Now – and I don’t quite know when this happened – Ian has mastered his walker, and is looking for bigger dragons to slay. He goes from room to room, carpet to linolium, and cat to cat without any problems. If he hits a wall, he’ll execute a perfect three-point turn to free himself. If he gets stuck, and there’s no room to reverse, he’ll actually lift the walker to face the opposite direction.

Ian can walk, he just doesn’t know it yet.

Yesterday, I realized that Ian actually has two walkers. He most often uses his second-hand PLAYSKOOL walker, but he also has a FisherPrice scooter/walker with lots of pretty lights and phat house music. I also realized that while Ian’s using one walker, he isn’t using the other.

Thus, Daddy Demolition Derby was born.