Hi everyone! I hope you are all well. Life’s been crazy here - moving cross country (I could share a few funny stories of spots along the way with a 16 month old in my car with just mom). But we are starting to feel settled.

My question is my little girl is 17 months old. She’s taken a few steps by herself over the last month but not many and not often. Is there anything I should be doing to encourage her to walk more? Just looking for advice on how to encourage her to walk more. Or maybe it’s just it will happen when it happens?

For background my girl was born 4 weeks early. She was a late crawler - really started crawling around 12-13 months. Now she crawls everywhere. She cruises along furniture all the time without losing her balance. She stands really without support and for long stretches when playing or other activities.. I don’t believe it’s an impairment issue - I suspect it’s confidence and just not being ready to go for it. I don’t have any worries about her brain or body - she’s doing well developing on all fronts (I say that to mean I’m not looking for advice to take her to her pediatrician and discuss physical therapy - I don’t think it’s a development issue at all). And I also watch her and she clearly assesses the distance between furniture and toys and the like and if she assesses it’s too far, she lowers herself down and crawls to it rather than stepping to ut. I’ve moved furniture to encourage her to take steps but I believe if she gauges it’s a bit to far away - she crawls. It’s like she’s too smart for her own good on this front.