monkey girl

Friday night E tried to climb out of her playpen. When I looked around she had her armpits hooked over the side, and was trying to walk her feet up the mesh sides. I saw her trying that on the crib yesterday morning but she couldn't get traction on the bars. I moved the crib to the middle of the room because where it was she could have possibly reached or climbed onto the changing table or fallen into the gap between it and the crib -- I could imagine lots of scenarios, none of them reassuring!

Yesterday morning E was crawling around the kitchen. The dishwasher was open but empty and clean, and I was watching her, but I did turn my back for an instant.... When I looked around, she was standing on the open dishwasher door, holding onto the top rack with both hands like a rock climber.

Climbing brings out a mix of emotions in me! Pride at her development, of course, but lots of fear and dread of the changes it brings.

Saturday afternoon the two of us went to a park with my friend Kimberly and her daughter, and E played in a sandbox for the first time. I plopped her down in the middle of it and when she went to crawl, she was startled by the feel of the sand on her palm - she sat back up and inspected it. She played in the sand like she does the cat food - sifting through her fingers, scattering it, standing up and scratching/digging like a dog. When she tired of the sandbox she looked around, spotted something several yards away and took off crawling toward it. Out of the sandbox, across the grass, into another play area - she was heading for the stairs that led up to a slide and other play equipment. She scrambled up the stairs with us 3 guarding all sides and her back. It was the lure of climbing that drew her out of the sandbox.

I wrote a lot yesterday, so be sure to scroll down and catch up. More photos to come.