June 23: Progress

After a frustrating day on Wednesday, Isla made some encouraging progress today.  We were working on pulling up with her toy table.  Usually I build a block tower on top of it, then encourage her to pull up, so that she can knock the blocks down.  And all of a sudden, she pulled herself up by herself (she occasionally will do this but not consistently).  And then she did it again.  And again.  And again.  Like ten times in a row!  It was not easy for her, but she got herself up. 

We always clap and make a big deal about things whenever we are working on skills like these, so she is in the habit of clapping for herself whenever she thinks she has done something good.  Today, we went crazy, and she was so excited too.

Later, we were at another birthday party.  Isla just wanted to take off everywhere.  She always likes to walk when you hold her hands, but she usually wants to hold on with both hands.  She can only take a few wobbly steps with one hand...until tonight at this party.  She grabbed onto one of my hands and just started going.  We walked all over the place like this, and she didn't hardly falter.  We walked on the sidewalk, in the grass, through some mulch, all while she was just holding one hand.  She may start taking off on her own sooner than we expect.

So all of this is good news for Isla, and reassurance for me that everything will be just fine.

Here are a few more party pics.  Tonight we went to our friend Simon's 5th birthday party.  He had a Lego-themed party.

 This is Audrey with her buddy Luke.  Unfortunately, Luke is soon moving away so they won't be buddies for much longer.  But Luke is so good with Audrey, and Audrey loves to play with him.