Stand!
Yesterday, my daughter stood unassisted for the first time. And also the second, third, fourth and fifth times.
Birdie had been moving toward that milestone for some time. She started standing with an assist from furniture in mid-November and surfing along that furniture in early December. Since then she'd been standing more and more confidently and with less and less weight on the supporting furniture, but never quite without it. Late in January, she'd occasionally stand for a second or maybe two, but it was unclear if that was just a brief coincidence.
Today, it was no coincidence. She and I were hanging out in the baby jail, and I was balancing some of Birdie's plastic stacking cups on my head for her amusement, as one does. She was holding on to the wall of the baby jail when she stepped toward me to get the cup off my head. Both of her hands reached for the cup and grabbed it, and then she was standing there playing it next to me. About 5 or 6 seconds in it, it dawned on me that she was standing unassisted. I naturally started cheering for her, but she ignored me and kept playing with the cup for another five seconds before she decided to lean me so she could replace the cup on my head.
We quickly repeated this a few other times, once wherein I held her hands to get her standing and then let go of them and she kept on standing. I called for M, who came downstairs and sat on the sofa. Birdie walked over to grab her hair and was then standing next to the sofa.
Ten seconds isn't very long, but then the first powered flight only lasted 12 seconds, and that led to some pretty cool things. In this case, we expect standing to lead to walking, which Birdie hasn't shown much interest in. This might because she's lighting fast when crawling and hasn't seen a need to walk. Our nephew E didn't start walking until he started daycare and saw other kids doing it, so maybe she just needs to be inspired.
Birdie had been moving toward that milestone for some time. She started standing with an assist from furniture in mid-November and surfing along that furniture in early December. Since then she'd been standing more and more confidently and with less and less weight on the supporting furniture, but never quite without it. Late in January, she'd occasionally stand for a second or maybe two, but it was unclear if that was just a brief coincidence.
Today, it was no coincidence. She and I were hanging out in the baby jail, and I was balancing some of Birdie's plastic stacking cups on my head for her amusement, as one does. She was holding on to the wall of the baby jail when she stepped toward me to get the cup off my head. Both of her hands reached for the cup and grabbed it, and then she was standing there playing it next to me. About 5 or 6 seconds in it, it dawned on me that she was standing unassisted. I naturally started cheering for her, but she ignored me and kept playing with the cup for another five seconds before she decided to lean me so she could replace the cup on my head.
We quickly repeated this a few other times, once wherein I held her hands to get her standing and then let go of them and she kept on standing. I called for M, who came downstairs and sat on the sofa. Birdie walked over to grab her hair and was then standing next to the sofa.
Ten seconds isn't very long, but then the first powered flight only lasted 12 seconds, and that led to some pretty cool things. In this case, we expect standing to lead to walking, which Birdie hasn't shown much interest in. This might because she's lighting fast when crawling and hasn't seen a need to walk. Our nephew E didn't start walking until he started daycare and saw other kids doing it, so maybe she just needs to be inspired.