World's tiniest walker

World's tiniest walker aims to take over world

Baby Kalina Odegaard, 17 1/2 lbs. and 10 months, is officially walking, having been spotted taking several independent steps in a row throughout the day.

"I've been working on this for about 10 months now," the petite girl stated. "I've noticed that most of the world's rich and famous people can walk, so I decided this would be a good first step toward my ultimate goal of world domination. Pun intended."

"They also all eat their vegetables," her mommy commented wryly.

Kalina had been cruising around the furniture, stairs and Mommy's legs for weeks now, and had already been taking a few cautious isolated steps when her progress erupted this afternoon with four unprovoked steps in a row.

"I was holding a toy, and it just kind of happened," Kalina boasted. "Sometimes I walk better when I'm holding something. Mommy's hands work best, of course, but today I didn't need them. Mommy said something about the 'feather in Dumbo's cap,'" but I didn't know what she meant by that."

The young girl then outlined an elaborate plan for the next few months that culminates in her becoming the planet's sole human ruler. Too detailed to list here, the plan's highlights include an army of fuzzy squirrels and pink cupcakes for the masses.

Kalina's mommy claims to be thrilled about Kalina's newfound bipedal mobility, despite fellow parents' warnings that "now it really gets tough."

"I've spent about half of the baby's life stooped over helping her walk. I don't think they make enough Advil to take care of that kind of back pain," she informed bystanders. "Besides," she added, "there's nothing more angsty than a future world ruler who can't even walk yet."

When asked how she felt about finally being able to walk, Kalina emitted a kind of patience far beyond her years, mentioning the fact that she still has a lot of work to do.

"Really, I won't be happy until I can run," she said. "At lightspeed. But most importantly, I need to keep the end goal in mind: being the first baby--nay, toddler--to take over the world."

Photo: Kalina practices walking today in her cute new mommy-made diaper

Video: Yet to come. My hard drive has crashed, as has my computer--to the floor yesterday from the counter where I was trying to get it fixed, at the hands of Kalina.