she’s been really close for months, or at least that’s the way it has seemed since september. she started cruising and we thought “surely, it can’t be long now.” but her progress sort of stagnated. it’s not a developmental thing (she’s still months and months (and months) away from someone other than her parents being concerned), she’s just working it out at her own pace. she also hates shoes, due to not wearing the much as a baby-baby (even the soft-soled ones). trying to get her to keep them on has been quite a challenge.

i think part of the reason for the delay is how fast she can crawl. for several months, even though she could cruise very well and stand relatively well, she wasn’t really interested in moving forward that way. you could almost see it in her face. she’d think about taking a step and get this look that said “screw this. crawling’s so much faster.” she’d drop down and take off towards her goal. standing was only useful as a stage between sitting and climbing. balance was never a consideration, and it turns out balance is key.

the other “reason” i think is lack of socialization. i’ve noticed over the past year that whenever she’s around someone her size she studies them intently and the next day she can do (or is trying to do) something that she couldn’t the day before. since she’s staying at home with me, she doesn’t have as much exposure to walkers her size to give her the idea that it’s the way to go. at her birthday party, however, there was a 15 month old chasing everyone around and it started to really click for her. maybe it was just that he was getting more attention than her.

at 13 months she likes doing laps around the kitchen with her grocery cart. she’s also interested grabbing your hands and leading you around the house. sometimes she’ll tolerate doing it one handed, but the speed gets her down. she requires lots of cheering to convince her this something she wants to do. we’ve had a few moments where she’s taken a small step on her own, but that’s usually just to fall into someone’s waiting arms. there is no dismount ;)

standing is much the same way. she’ll pull up with ease (and has been for months), but to keep her standing, you have to distract her and/or then cheer her on. she’s up to almost 10 minutes in the same place (assuming there’s something worth watching on the tv) and can even bounce around while she’s up there and compensate with her balance. she’s really good at falling safely, though, which is very important. it’s also a good indicator of how tired she is. sloppy falls means it’s nap time.

a couple of days ago, i nabbed some videos of her current progress:

standing:

pushing a cart:

i’m looking forward to christmas and exposure to her walking cohorts to really finish off the lessons.