Look out world, after about a month of fits and starts, L now ambulates just like the rest of us.

She took the, er, leap tonight, staggering/shuffling from her toy chest in the living room, past the coffee table, to her high chair in the kitchen. Thirteen steps in all, confident as ever she’d reach her destination on two feet.

Powergirl and I watched with hushed excitement. We have learned the hard way that real-time expressions of surprise and encouragement only scare the baby and deter her from accomplishing her goal. Tonight, then, we literally bit our tongues while jumping up and down in silence as the baby made her way across the room.

When she reached the high chair, we yelped and started chanting L’s name as if she were batting leadoff for the New York Yankees (who, by the way, could use her help).

The baby loved every minute of it.

So much, in fact, that she took a few other 13-step strolls before bedtime. At one point in the evening, she even walked out into the middle of the room and proceeded to do what we’re calling a waddle-dance to some music playing on the television.

Now that she officially is walking, there’s literally no limit to the stuff we can do. At this rate, we’ll have her on the Pacific Crest Trail in no time. After that: The Boston Marathon.

No, in all seriousness, I’m really geeked about this development. We can walk hand-in-hand! We can explore stuff on the same level! We can even start kicking around the soccer ball. In other words, now that L has achieved ambulation, the real fun of fatherhood begins. I only hope I’m fast enough to keep up.