After the frustrating trip to the Big Island, Leilani finally got down to crawling and really satisfied her desire to interact with the world. So many new things were now within reach, so many new places became accessible, and she discovered new games such as chasing a ball, a cat, or being chased by Daddy.
Recently, she loves to climb over obstacles such as Daddy’s legs when he’s playing on the floor with her—and she learned to avoid a face-plant. She even learned to “bear-crawl” on her feet instead of her knees whenever she wore a dress that tripped her or whenever going over rocky ground that hurt her knees.
But all that is not enough, it’s a big world and the big people are all doing interesting things far above her reach. I can’t remember when she started to pull herself up on furniture, but now she just stands up and holds on for balance, and does it all the time—all that baby proofing the entire house is paying off. She is also very good at leaning back down and then tipping backwards to fall down sitting.
The more she practices, the more confident she gets. A few days ago, we saw her let go of Mommy and lean towards Daddy to catch herself—no hands for half a second. And she routinely plays on shelves, either leaning and using both hands, or holding on with one and waving the other. The problem is that she sometimes forgets the need for balance and lets go at the wrong time. Today for the second time, she let go indadvertently, hit her face on a lower shelf, and cut her lip on her little sharp teeth. This caused her to bleed a bit and cry a lot. Fortunately, it was never serious and stops quickly, but today she has a swollen lip and she definitely feels it when she nurses or eats.
