“DaDa!”

“Nope.  Not yet.  Just a couple more minutes, I hope.  Why don’t you practice standing while you wait?”

I stand Cheeks up on his feet, not close enough to anything supportive, pry his little fingers off of my hands, and watch as he stands there looking out the front door.

“Hey!  Look what I’ve got!  Don’t you think that you’d really love to have this telephone?  Why don’t you walk over here and get it?”

He looks at me, then at the phone.  He smiles and looks at me again, his face says, “I know something you don’t know.”  I watch him closely, twirling the telephone in my right hand.  Slowly, he picks up his right foot and sets it back down 2 inches in front of where he’d had it.  He smiles again and picks up his left foot moving it the same, stiff way.  Twice more he moves each foot closer to the telephone.  He relaxes and stands still to look at me, I’m smiling back, he realizes he’s just done something incredible and I can see the excitement spread across his face.  He tries to clap his hands but the movement is too much, his knees buckle, he falls to floor, buries his face in the carpet, and laughs.  Loud, body shaking giggles muffled by the carpet.  I know what he’s thinking and how he’s feeling.  When he rolls over to his back I hand him the telephone.  A job well done deserves a prize.

“Look outside, Cheeks, your Dad’s home.  Wanna show him your new moves?”