Standing!

For about a month now, Adelaida has been experimenting with standing on her own. When she is standing near something (the couch, the coffee table, a chair, me), she often takes both hands off the object momentarily. She did this very tentatively at first, and now with more confidence. She seems to enjoy the thrill of standing by herself, and always smiles as if she is proud of herself after regaining her grip.

Seeing her think about standing on her own, I started standing her up in the middle of a room and letting go, then (usually) catching her as she fell. (There have been a few tears when she fell face-first into the floor or hit her head on the corner of the changing table, but I usually catch her!) At first she would stand for about a second, then three or four, and now she's up to at least a half-minute almost every time she stands.

A skill that is very important to learn along with standing is falling. It turns out to be a lot easier and more pleasant to fall on one's bottom than on one's face, and we are still trying to teach Adelaida this lesson, primarily by clapping and getting excited when she lands on her bottom and not reacting when she falls on her face. (Unfortunately, now she thinks the game is "momma will stand me up and I'm supposed to sit down as fast as I can, then clap!")

She has just recently gotten good enough at standing by herself that we've been able to take these two pictures. You might notice Dale's arm in the second photo -- he stood her up, then quickly pulled his hands away from her as I took the picture.