Wednesday, August 29, 2012

An Eliana first: She took a seat with a good book.

As I was reading, Eliana crawled into her nursery to play. So I walked in and sat down on the rocking chair with my book. Then Eliana found a book on upside-down elephants and climbed into her chair so that she could sit enjoying her book while I did likewise with mine.

Reading a book about upside-down elephants

Saturday, August 25, 2012

An Eliana first: She walked.

Eliana held the handle of a French door in one hand and a toy in the other. The toy was a seal on a wheel attached to a shaft, just the right height for Eliana to hold while standing. So she stood. The seal flaps its flippers as the wheel rolls, but you need to move forward to make that happens. So she let go of the door handle and walked.

We had tried to encourage Eliana to walk before, the result of which was a few seconds of her standing on her own. What motivated her turned out to be her brother. Not anything he did at that moment, but she had seen him playing with the Seal Swimmer toy—something worth taking steps toward mimicking.

Friday, August 24, 2012

An Eliana first: She played in the sandbox.

Ethan didn’t even have a sandbox until a couple years later in his life, which was a conveniently clean delay. But the sandbox is there, and Ethan makes it look so fun. Now, Eliana thinks so, too.

Playing in the sandbox

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

An Eliana first: She took a seat in her rocking chair.

Eliana was playing in her bedroom when I peaked in to find her contently sitting in her rocking chair. I went downstairs not knowing whether to get the camera or a teapot with cups and saucers. When I returned (with the camera) she was still happily seated, even with her brother vying for her attention.

After some observation, I learned how she got there. Eliana climbs on anything she can, including her rocking chair. It turns out that after climbing up on the rocking chair, it is natural for her to transition from kneeling or standing to sitting. And since it’s a comfortable chair, sitting is not a bad way to stay for a bit.

Monday, August 6, 2012

An Eliana first: She climbed up and down the stairs.

The key was getting over the mindset that movement had to be forward. I’d been working with Eliana the last few days to get the idea across, but she really caught on today while she was unassisted on the back deck stairway, climbing up—and then back down.