Standing

Well, I knew it was coming sooner or later, but I was kind of hoping for later! While Sage is still trying to master that whole crawling thing, she has managed to master standing up by herself in her crib. Not so bad if her father had lowered the mattress yet ... I mean, I only asked him about 50 times to do it! So, we are home by ourselves yesterday evening and I'm getting the bathtub ready for her. I seemed to know it was going to happen although she hadn't really given any signs of doing so yet other than half-hearted attempts in her pack-n-play to try to pull herself to a sitting position. I was going into the bathroom to turn the tub off and had placed her in the crib ... mommy will be right back ... don't you stand up. HA! Why did I say that? I was gone for like five whole seconds ... walk back into the bedroom and there's the little monkey, standing up with both hands gripping the railing, bouncing like Tigger and grinning from ear to ear. She was SO proud of herself. And I was proud of her as well ... after my heart removed itself from my throat and I could breathe again. I thought she was going to tumble over that rail in the two seconds it took me to get from the door to the crib.

Along with her newfound standing status she has re-discovered blowing raspberries. I think it's because she needed to find something to do with all of the excessive drool and what better way to get rid of it then to spray mommy in the face with baby spittle and laugh like a little monkey when I exaggerate the Ewwwwwwwwww and wipe it from my face. It's that deep down belly laugh that she usually saves for our ah-boo sessions (our version of peek-a-boo) at night before she goes to sleep. And then she claps herself to sleep. I kid you not, we have thankfully said good-bye and good-riddance to the once adorable head rocking that constantly broke off her hair on the back of her head and left a little bald spot. She now has discovered the joy of actually opening her hands and clapping the chubby little paws together to make noise. She claps three or four times, stops and looks at you to wait for acknowledgment. Once duly received, she starts over again with a little giggle. Her clapping is usually a sign that she is going to be asleep within about five minutes. She's growing so fast and learning something new every day. I keep telling her "slow down baby girl, slow down!"

Pretty soon she'll be crawling and walking and talking ... INDEPENDENCE ... then before you know it, going to school, dating, driving, getting married! Can't I keep her a little, tiny person and take care of her forever? Is that really too much to ask?