This weekend the kid just decided to take off. He was very good at walking long distances between people... with a helpful "launch" from an adult hand... but on Sunday he started taking off from stationary objects, and walking long distances. For his grand finale he walked ~30-40 feet, including several pauses during which he balanced and stood still... he even turned a few corners and went into three different rooms before terminating at a piece of furniture. After each walk, we all clapped and he cracked a big grin and applauded along with us. It has been great to watch him work toward this... I am predicting an exponential learning curve from here on out. His next step will be endurance - he gets tired of walking after 5-10 minutes... he just folds down into a squat and goes back to crawling.