12/3/07 Katrina tries to stand

(First let me say: I accidentally erased all our messages tonight before hearing them, so would the executor of the estate of my long-lost rich great-uncle who unexpectedly left me his vast fortune on his deathbed please call back?)

Tonight after dinner, I gave Katrina's red, raw and bleeding rear end some air time, to address a persistent diaper rash since she's been on the antibiotics for the ear infection.

Well, she loves to play with her shoes, usually trying to put them on, but tonight it became more fun to try to stand up with one shoe in each hand. Stand up, did I say? Yes indeed! She tried again and again and again to stand, sometimes staying up for a few seconds.

It wasn't easy to photograph, as her moments of standing were brief, and her poses daring, but I managed to get some modest shots.


Of course, this amused her brothers to no end, so she also started sitting down on purpose to make them laugh. But impressing the audience (and herself, as she sometimes applauded herself), holding the shoes, and perhaps being barefoot, all contributed to this big step toward walking.


The thing that really struck me was her persistence. She did this again and again for over half an hour, reminding me so much of Gabriel's breakthrough moment in walking. One day out of the blue he set his mind to it and worked hard for a really long time to push to a stand and a very stiff walk.

In fact, what the heck. Here he is at 15-1/2 months old, taking his first steps, though this doesn't include the parts where he falls again and again, laughing and laughing and laughing each time.

(This video clip does work, it just doesn't have the preview frame)


Just like Gabriel, Katrina found fun and joy in this game, never looking to me to decide how to react if she fell, and laughing instead of crying when she fell. She must have been getting tired after a while, but she still got better and better as she kept trying.

I'm cautiously thrilled -- Gabriel stood up on his own at 14 months too (Katrina is just two days shy), but it took another 6 weeks for him to get to what you see in the video clip above, and then another six weeks to give up crawling!

I left too late again this morning, 7:20am, and paid for it with an extra 10 minutes of commuting. Doesn't sound like a lot, but the difference between 35 minutes and 45 minutes is huge!

12/3/07