VTech Sit to Stand Learning Walker

The Blueberry received the VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker as a Christmas present and I must say that it's proven to be an exceptionally versatile toy. The colorful panel detaches from the walker part and makes a great floor toy, complete with carry-handle. Lights and music engaged the baby at first, then soon he moved on to spinning the gears, closing then opening the little shutter to play "peek-a-boo" with a hen, shaking the phone rattle, and playing with the connected shapes.

When he began pulling up, the wide handle of the walker part was perfect for him to grab onto--provided an adult was stabilizing the device. Otherwise, it would simply tip over. When I bought a couple other walkers, I realized how great the VTech wide design was as the Blueberry cannot yet pull himself up on the much narrow handles of this one by Playskool or this one by Fisher Price. These other two walkers have the advantage of converting to ride on toys, which means he will hopefully get use of them as a toddler, but they're not suited for pulling up on now. The VTech walker also has two "speed" settings on the wheels, which the other two lack.

It took the Blueberry at least a couple weeks after learning to pull up before he grasped the concept of forward movement. He would jump up and down, but that was it. After much practice with Mommy and Daddy leading him about the apartment like a marionette, the Blueberry finally managed it on his own. Even on the lower "speed" settings on the toy, until the Blueberry gained more balance, a parent had to stabilize the walker and move it very slowly forward or it would roll right from under him. Finally, this morning he managed it on his own!

In this video, here's the Blueberry walking on his own with the walker. He still has some work to do in the balance area as he face-planted a number of times as he started to tire (or when he became distracted by things such as track lighting), but he's definitely on his way to getting about on his own!