DD1 was walking at about 10.5 months and DD2 at 9 months so mine were both really early as well as being really independent misses. Having the two of them though I found it much less stressful for me to have the both in the pram in shopping centres. Neither of them wanted to be in the pram though so I would tend to give them time out of the pram in return for them being good for me in the pram while I shopped for whatever I needed.

Both the girls are very tiny so while I never got any negative comments (lots of comments about cuteness/tinyness), I always had to be really watchful that people didn't bowl them over cos a lot of the time they just weren't seen.