Is she walking yet?

It seems that when a child turns 1, most people, upon finding out his/her age, will immediately ask whether or nor he/she has begun walking. I can't blame them. In fact, I've done it. Why? Because the average age at which a baby takes his/her first step is, indeed, at 12 months. Not my kids. They take after their mother, whose inability to walk until 18 months of age prompted a call to the doctor to determine "what is wrong with this child?".
Regardless of when my children begin toddling around, I have noticed something very interesting about the manner in which they learn this important skill. That is, it is more indicative of an individual's personality than a mark of future athletic ability. Here's how.

Anna took her first steps as a 14 month old. I was convinced she had been practicing in her crib every night because there was little faltering, let alone falling. She just took off! I have since learned that Anna is terrified of failure, particularly in front of others. She resists my teaching her to play the piano because she doesn't want anyone watching while she plucks an errant note or two. She'd rather just figure it out on her own and then allow us all to gawk at her talent when she plays an entire song flawlessly. After all, how many four-year-olds do you know who have taught themselves 7-8 songs on the piano? Mozart excluded, that is.

Lily was just too darned content to even bother getting around on two limbs instead of four. Heck, the girl didn't even crawl until she was 11 months old! Why bother, when mom would just place a couple of toys that provide hours of entertainment on the floor and then pick her up before she'd even played with one or two of them. Lily is a self-entertainer. And she's not really motivated to do anything that requires much effort. The same applies to her potty-training where, five months later, she still thinks that sitting in her own pee is better than interrupting her play to deposit it in the toilet.

So now we come to Rachel. Who I wouldn't classify as a walker, just yet. She's taken dozens of unprovoked steps. She's also fallen down just as many times, if not more. Rachel is most definitely not a perfectionist. She'll take a few steps, fall down, pick herself up, try again (much less gracefully), take another spill, and keep repeating this process over and over until it has disintegrated into something akin to a slapstick comedy routine, with more falling than walking.

So what does this say about Rachel? I'm not sure enough to make any predictions, but I'm hoping for the best...