Aside from what condition the soil is; if its too soft to walk on, then wait for a day when it hasn't rained for a couple days before. Surely just walking on the new grass seedlings are not going to kill them.

Use your mower and bag to pick up the leaves. Raise the height an inch or two so that what new grass is coming up, it shouldn't bother.
You cant leave leaves on the lawn over winter and you cant depend on the wind to blow them off.

Oh, yes....those leaves, do compost them--don't throw away all that phosphurus.
Don't have a compost?, start one or bag the leaves, throw in some soil, some kitchen scraps, some grass clippings, some nitrogen fertilizer, poke holes into the bottom to let the worms in, and put behind a bush on the ground, and let that be your compost.
Next summer, those leaves and grass will be a great addition to your garden or a good beginning for a compost bin.

Thank you both for your answers, I appreciate it.

Jeannie7, I have read in several places that if you walk on it before 3 weeks have passed, it will kill the seedlings. Actually this is the first I've heard that it's safe to do as long as it's dry. Of course, it's been over 2 weeks now and I still have to keep it moist...

enigma7 actually since I posted this, we had a VERY strong wind storm and now there are even more leaves as well as branches and twigs everywhere. When I slitseeded it, the forecast was perfect for the entire extended forecast, and it turned out to be correct. After that though, we've been getting wind and rain. I'm at a loss as to what I should do NOW though, as we did have a VERY strong wind storm and now in addition to the leaves, there are more leaves of course, but now there are also small branches and twigs everywhere too. These don't cover nearly as much area as the leaves. It's still a thin, sparse covering except in a few areas, fortunately.

The other thing I should mention is, most of it was seeded with Pennington Smart Seed Sun & Shade mix. That mixture has a germination rate of 7-21 days depending on the seed. So, I've still got a week before some of the types of seed even start germinating. Which I assume means, I shouldn't walk on it for an entire MONTH yet? Also, it's cool here and unless the sun is directly overhead, this grass doesn't get a lot of sun (hence the sun & shade mix choice). I'm assuming this will slow things down even further?

I tend to discount everything I read from the experts in favor of what I read in the forums. I've been reading these forums for years and never read about problems walking on new seedlings. Maybe the problem is so well known that nobody writes about it???? Maybe I don't read all the messages (very true)??? It just seems odd that it is not an issue that has come to my attention.

What has been found in nature is that the places where cattle step, the seeds grow first and fastest. In fact in some relatively sterile soils in the western deserts, the seeds only sprout in the footprints of the cattle. Thus I would suggest that the spots you have seen could be caused specifically by you when you drove the slit seeder around. Or by you when you rolled the seed down with the water fillable roller.

I've found that waling on new grass is much less damaging that pulling hoses, running lawnmowers etc.

Personally, I think that a blanket of wet leaves is much more of a threat to seedlings than minor foot traffic. I'd get the leaves and twigs off pronto. When using the leaf blower, make sure you are directing the air over the lawn, not down at the soil. You want to be as gentle as possible.

My experience is that walking on it when it is just emerging, especially if the seed bed is fairly soft soil, is very damaging. Timing is very big on this issue. When fist seeded, walking probably helps. then its very bad when the seed is just getting sprouted and up. Then, after about 2 weeks after it has emerged, it toughens up and can take more and more foot traffic.

On the issue of the leaves, like most things, its a matter of degree. I have an area I seeded Sept 3. I try to keep the bur oak leaves from covering it up. Past experience says if the leaves aren't removed, they damage the grass. Raking pulls up a lot of the seedlings at this stage so I usually try to blow them off to an established area where I remove them.

I love to grind leaves in to established grass, but have found mulch-mowing alot of leaves on newly seeded grass seems to do more harm than good. Again, a matter of degree. A few leaves would be ok, lots of leaves, like I have beneath some bur oaks, too much.