Katharine Lange: Arwyn Week 37: First Solo Stand Up!

Arwyn had a very exciting week with many developmental milestones. The biggest one being that she figured out how to push herself up to standing on a small foot stool! The small foot stool is just the right height for her to get some leverage while on her knees. She hasn't quite figured out how to get up by grabbing something that is above her head though. Also, once she's up, she's much better at standing, and can even move her feet or take a small step while supporting her own weight. It's really fun to watch her figure out this whole standing thing; she concentrates so hard on her tactics, and when she actually figures out her best plan of attack and succeeds, you can see how excited and proud she is. Arwyn is also on the move a lot more these days, however, she mostly decides to crawl when she wants be closer to someone who has moved away from her, or to get a toy that she wants. She still doesn't really go big distances, and doesn't seem to care about exploring too much, she's pretty much content with learning about all the cool things that are already around her...I'm thinking she's more of a tinkerer. On the eating front, we are finally doing much better. One reason is because we've been practicing more, but also we figured out that she hates spoons! When I gave her pureed mango with a spoon, she refused to eat, and gagged a bit, but when she sucks on the mango in the mesh food holder, she loves it. Plus, anytime she eats food via a squeezie, she's happy as a clam. I ordered some refillable squeeze pouches for her to try, so we'll see how that goes. Unfortunately, Arwyn may have had a bit of a reaction to the pears we gave her the other day, so now I'm back to being careful about what I give her and when, and hopefully that pear thing will turn out to be a false alarm.

Leia, she's in a testing her limits phase. She had started acting reasonable for awhile, but all reason is lost now. Her favorite phrase is "Just one time, and that's it!" for anything she wants, whether it's one more book, one more TV show, one more anything. Of course, when we give her one more, it's the same thing all over again, "Mommy, just one more, and that's it." Even when I tell her we already had the one more and that's it, she just repeats herself again. It's all rather infuriating. Her other favorite phrase is, "That's not fair!" and as you can guess, this one comes right after we say no the the one more time. Nothing is ever fair for her, it's a tough life! There must have been more cute or funny things, but the only one I can remember is how she's been into doing her hair this week. She calls it her "Mermaid Pony," and basically when it's all wet or full of shampoo, she likes to twist it up on top of her head like a French twist. It's a very cute do, and she can do it all by herself in the bath. She had me do it when it was dry once too, and I totally improvised, but we thought it turned out great! It was nice that I was actually allowed to make her hair look nice rather than her normal screaming at me to get away!