Ingrid is now indeed back to her happy self, except with more walking and talking. Well, more moving around and making noises, in any case. Even though what she does looks nothing like what I would describe as crawling, she really is reaching the stage where I cannot leave her unattended for long because she can easily end up in a place that I hadn’t planned, chewing on things that really shouldn’t be chewed on. More work for me, less frustration for her. (Although an endless stream of “No, you really cannot chew on that” and “No, don’t play with that” might get frustrating after a while as well.)

This happened faster than I thought. Most of the changes in her habits have happened faster than I was prepared for, really. Eating solids. Going to sleep without crying. Standing up. Moving around. It’s rarely a smooth process – one week she doesn’t, and the next week she suddenly does.

Oh, and I almost forgot: I believe she realised today for the first time that she can pull herself up all on her own by holding onto things. Not quite to standing yet, just onto her knees, but she laughed with joy. (Until now I’ve pulled a bit and she’s pulled a bit and together we got her up.) Of course she picked the strangest time and place for this discovery: in the bathtub, during her evening bath, pulling on the FAR edge of the tub… slippery and unsafe, and very un-ergonomical for me, but apparently a lot of fun for her.

It is so lovely to see her joy of discovery.