Hope stood by herself last week, by accident, but then on her 16 month birthday she did it deliberately, and not just once but time after time after time, and how it made her giggle as she kept on climbing over me, standing, letting go, wobbiling and then collapsing into a heap.
The sun was out in the garden and she was playing in the outdoor playpen my mother put us in as children, keeping herself busy with her stacking up toys, brushing her hair (hair is her latest word) with a purple shape puzzle piece and picking daisies. I went and lolled in the sun on the blanket next to the pen and looked up at her and there she was standing up looking out at me and reaching out with both hands. She was using the pen side to steady herself but was clearly delighted at her achievement.
I knelt up and held her hands, she sat down and chortled and then stood up again, pulling herself up on the wooden pen sides and then reaching out to take my hands and then sitting down again giggling.
After a few minutes I lifted her out and lay down next to her, she dozed for a few seconds and then spent an hour climbing over me and standing up, letting go, and then flopping to the floor. She laughed, she wrinkled her nose in glee and she chortled, I laughed with her until tears filled my eyes. Then she added having a bit of breastmilk into the equation, she’d climb over me, lift up my shirt, beam, have some milky, push back and stand up and then let go and make a delighted whooping sound before climbing over to the other side and doing it again and again and again. It was a very happy time, her precious Granby was there to share it and her father, I’m so glad … she pushed her fist down onto my tummy to propel herself upright and then lifted one hand in the air like some Olympic athlete celebrating as she crossed the finishing line and then raised the other … and then in fits of giggles collapsed and it all started again.
She did the same at the beach yesterday as she and I lolled in the sun together. Still no sign of walking, she delights in crawling everywhere or walking on all fours like a strange but happy crab …
Hope looks different this week, perhaps some of her baby fat (not that she had any really) has gone with the increase in activity, but she seems more of a little girl now than a baby. Her Granby wonders why we can’t see her growing… I think this week we have!
happy time practicing standing on a sunny afternoon
