"Bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to stand~"

Dear Baby,

I sang you this song this week, and it's apt because that is what you are doing nowadays.
Literally.

You've mastered the physical skill of pulling yourself to stand and you are very proud about it.
We know, because you give us the widest smile each time you succeed in it.
In fact, you look smug.
You even attempted the "Look mom, no hands!" a couple of times by supporting your head or chest on the sides of the playpen.


Here's the timeline.

Somewhere in April where you are 5+ months old..
You were upset about me not carrying you because you want to be carried.
And as you were crying and flapping your arms away, you realise that you can 'claw' on the mesh of the playpen.
So that continued for weeks, leading to your very sharp nails no matter how frequently I trim them.

A few weeks later, you realise you can push yourself a little higher so that you are able to look at me through the mesh, like in a scary movie.

 

17 April (6 month old) THURS:
You accidentally discovered that you could touch the top of the playpen. You were very much surprised. So you continued practising and practising.


18 April FRI:
You can now touch the sides of the playpen with ease and kneel.
By the afternoon ,you realise that you are able to shift your knees nearer to the sides of the playpen.
It didn't work every time you tried. Sometimes you ended up just rocking in position.
You get tired after two or three tries.


19 April SAT:
When we came home from dinner, you surprised yourself (and us) by pulling yourself to stand. That look on your face is priceless. It's like "What did I just do?"


20 April SUN:
You attempted to pull yourself up again but failed a couple of times.
You tend to rock in position as you figure out how to position your feet.

When you finally succeeded, you look really pleased with yourself when I took a photo of you. Then you proceeded to give a 'chillax' pose by supporting yourself with your armpits.
You spotted the toys placed in the storage in front of you and forgetting that you just learnt how to stand, you supported yourself with your armpits so that your hands are free to play with the toys.
You fell back onto the mattress 3 seconds later.

You kept practising till you were pretty good at it in the night. When you are losing your balance, you held on tighter to the sides so that you won't fall. You can now stand for more than 10 seconds with support.

21 April MON:
You wouldn't stop trying to stand. There's no stopping you.
I placed you in the playpen when we were back from your vaccination (at noon) and almost immediately, you reached out to grab onto the sides of the playpen. You took a while to recall how to pull yourself up. It's interesting to watch you problem-solve. Like, where should you hold on to so that you can stand with greater ease.

By afternoon, you took only 15 seconds to get from lying position to standing position.
And you decided that you could use your head to support yourself so that your hands are free.

In the evening when Gong Gong and Popo came by, you 'performed', but only when no one is paying attention to you. Then you held on to the sides with only one hand.
Then you attempted to climb up the playpen.


22 April TUE:
This morning, you are so good at pulling yourself to stand that you kept doing it.
You can remain standing for close to two minutes.
You attempted cruising so that you can see the buses, or play with your toys.

 Did I just say "cruise"?

Baby, you're growing so fast!


Love,
Mommy