Standing Petra

In the midst of all the teething and not sleeping, Petra has found time to acquire a brand new skill.  (In fact the not-sleeping might very well be caused by the developmental leap because she often quits sleeping when she's working on new things.)  She can pull herself up very confidently now and started doing so all the time yesterday.  It's as if it takes her a few days to grasp the possibilities of each new thing, but once she does, she's off.

Now that she's up, she's been testing her balance, holding on with only one hand.  And this afternoon she let go with both hands and stood for a second or two before sinking very tidily to her knees.  I, of course, was all excited and clapped and wowed.  Petra was, as ever, blase about her new accomplishments.  She does something amazing and just moves on to the next thing.  Standing seems to me to be a revolution - a whole new way of being in the world - and one that involves a big conceptual leap.  Petra's had to work out that she can balance on two feet instead of all fours and muster up the confidence to trust that balance.  But she's just quietly doing it.