Walking!!!

We saw Benjamin take his first unassisted steps tonight! After dinner, I was in the living room with Ben. He was playing normally and cruising around, holding on to furniture and his toys. But out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw him take a couple of steps to the couch without holding on to anything. So I got on the floor a couple of feet away from him, holding one of his favorite toys out to him, and he took two steps from the recliner to my hands! Mike was out of the room, so when he came back he tried the same thing...and he took two more steps! Mike later saw him take several steps from his table to his jumper. All that excitement really took its toll: he went to bed without so much as a whimper. But sorry, no pics of the walking.

Playing with two toys at once...loud, musical, battery-operated toys.

Trying to walk under the dining room table. He managed to not bump his head this time.

I picked up his toothbrush in the living room intending to put it away (don't ask why it was out there) and he grabbed it and started chewing on it. I love this sweater on him.

Mike was putting his trumpets away, and Benjamin was fascinated. Mike played some quiet notes and then put the trumpet up to Ben's lips, and he copied Mike! Then he tried to swallow the mouthpiece whole.

I was trying to get a shot of him playing with a piece of cardboard packaging (just the most awesome toy EVER) but he charged at me before I had the chance.

Attacking Daddy...this was at the end of his evening of walking.

I have been using my spare time (ha ha) to slowly get the house ready for selling & moving. My first priority is the master bathroom and its tacky wallpaper. I thought it would be a breeze to take down & the only challenge would be painting the ten-foot walls. The first bit of paper I took down came off with no problems. But the next strip wasn't as easy; I kept getting layers of drywall with the wallpaper. So I did some research online where I found an advice columnist who said improper wall prep (or insanely strong wallpaper paste) is probably to blame. I've tried several techniques for wallpaper removal (vinegar, fabric softener, etc.) but nothing worked as well as just scoring & soaking the paper with warm water. Since I don't think painting over the remaining paper is a good idea, I'm oh-so-slowly taking the paper down as carefully as a can. I'll have a lot of repair to do on the drywall before I can actually paint, but anything would look better than that wallpaper. Here are some pics:
The area beside the window was a piece of cake. The adjoining wall was a nightmare.

I don't get it: I butchered the area below the window, but the area next to it was hardly damaged at all. At least the slow progress is giving me time to decide on a paint color.