She Pulled To A Stand!

Yes she DID! All by herself! This is old news to my friends on the trach forum since it happened on 4/4 and I had to tell them. But I do have something additional up my sleeve...video. Sorry it took so long. I had to figure out how to do it. Turns out YouTube now allows posting HD videos but it took a little work to get the file compatible and I still had to reduce the resolution to get it to take. It sure doesn't look HD. And I sound like a goof but oh well.



Steve was working yet another Saturday because of his crazy work deadlines so we didn't get the truck after all so the big yard pruning and clean up that was supposed to happen in November got pushed back again. But I was determined to get some yard work done even if I had to do it all by myself with all three kids. So I brought out the baby jail, aka a Pack-N-Play. We hadn't used it in many months so I wasn't sure if she'd be too big. She is 37" tall and weighs about 30 pounds. But it seemed okay so I put toys in with her and started cleaning up my bed of raspberry plants. Of course it only took seconds for her to throw them over the side. Oh the memories were flooding back.

Evie and Adrian were on the patio playing with the house and animals that she'd thrown out and so she was motivated to watch them and didn't complain too much about being left in there so I set about to do my work.

Imagine my surprise when I walk by and see her standing up like this.



Of course anytime anything happens I blame Evie first because 98% of the time she is the guilty one. I say "Evie, did you stand her up?" "No," she replies. Of course I can't be sure she doesn't think she's going to get in trouble for messing with her sister. She's fairly convincing so then I grill Adrian, "Did YOU stand her up?" "NO!" he replies. HOLY CRAP! She stood up by herself! I run for the camera as fast as I possibly can, knowing she probably won't last long in this position and got the photo! Hooray!

Throughout the day she lowered herself to a sit and pulled up to a stand another 15-20 times. Occasionally her feet would get stuck in an awkward position or she would be afraid to lower herself to a sit, she would cry and I had to help her but she over all she did GREAT!

I love that the sides are mesh and it's all padded so it makes a safe place for her to practice this new skill which is a real challenge for her due to her cerebellum malformation. We also went out into the yard most of Sunday too and she continued doing it. All that pulling up has to be great for her muscles. We lowered the crib the next day so she can safely pull to a stand in there as well. But she was a little slower to do it in there but eventually figured it out. Perhaps she remembers the times she's fallen over and bumped her head on the rails.

I hope next she'll take a step while holding on and eventually learn to cruise in there. Exciting stuff! We are SO PROUD....and so is she. Don't you love that smile?! It says "See what I did mom?!"