Theo, aka The Boy, is coming up for a year later this month. I know, time surely does fly. And for what seems like months now he's been pulling himself up onto his little footballer's legs (inherited from his dad, naturally). More recently, in search of forbidden fruit like a shiny magazine to screw up or small plastic toy to cram into his mouth, he's been confidently cruising round the furniture. This past weekend, as has been threatened for some time, he's taken his first steps.

I'm walking, yes indeed
— Fats Domino

It's quite a feat, in my humble opinion, and please excuse the pun. I realise that as a parent this is a great moment, but I'm equally impressed by what seems to me an almost unnatural transformation. There we are, happily crawling around on all fours, when suddenly we realise that hey, we can (a) stand still, then (b) move forwards on just the back two. Helluva thing, the inner ear.

Was it The Ascent Of Man that had the cover showing the stages of evolution leading to man walking? And didn't Fatboy Slim do something similar in the video for Right Here, Right Now? There I go again, covering all intellectual bases. From memory, I dimly remember a theory about the need to stand straight in order to pick fruit from the lowest branches. Not sure how likely that is in these days of one-stop convenience shops. One small can of Fruitini, please.

If You Take Away With You Nothing Else
Left, right, left, hello carpet:

• he's already doing Ring-A-Ring-A-Roses with his big sisters
• what's more clever: walking or using the lift?
• when I was 19 I broke my leg while posting a letter, but that's another story

Be seeing you!

Ed