Independence.

Sometimes 20 minutes will have passed and I realize Cecilia and I have been quietly co-habitating, her bustling around in the domain of the floor, and I am bustling at counter height. What luxury to have a sweet companion such as herself. She makes her usual rounds, the cabinet with recent safety latches, where she used to pull out small jars, then onto the cubby that houses rolls of aluminum foil, plastic baggies and potholders; then on to her very serious work of pulling out all of the paper bags from next to the dishwasher; or maybe she'll pull herself onto the baby gate and look at the hallway; or check out the gallon jars of grains; then off to break some dishes, at which point I intervene "That's not for babies" and redirect to her very own under sink cubby with all sorts of Cecilia Safe dishes and toys.


The walking! Have you heard about the walking yet? It's been 7 days of very balanced, very cautious (and adventurous!) first steps. First it was 3 steps together, then there were 6, and today I counted 9! She's so funny, the first few times I think she was honestly unaware that she was walking, and then Raf and I put her between the two of us and encouraged her back and forth and she got it! The scrunched nose! The waving arms! The excited squeals! Since then I notice her picking her way around furniture, and then pivoting for a few cautious steps. I find her balance to be excellent, and she shows a healthy respect for walking, just as she exhibits great caution crawling around the edge of the bed. When we encourage her to walk to us, she gets excited and drops to her knees to implement her fastest movement tool... the crawl. She can really move around on those hands and knees boy, what a master!

The cuddles! The snuggles! The laughter! The affection! She now crawls up to me and Rafi with glee in her voices and hugs us! Honest to goodness hugs! She sticks carrots in our mouths and thinks this is the funniest thing ever and cracks up laughing. She rolls around gets tickles! She blather, blather, blathers all the time, telling the crayon, wooden spoon, maraca or book all about it.


And before you ask, yes that is a barrette in her hair, what long bangs she has!