Olympian

Hannah's been spending her time developing her physical skills lately. For several weeks we have watched her learn to roll anywhere she wishes, do push-ups, and even reach upward for something while doing a push-up. Last Sunday we were all sitting in the living room and she decided it was time to go from a push-up to just sitting up. And then do it again. Within the first half hour she had sat up six times on her own. The last week we have watched her learn to get on all fours and perform these lunging motions, usually with an ear-to-ear grin. "For certain she'll be crawling by nightfall," we said. Well, this morning she was in her crib and decided to sit up... and then grab the rail of the crib... and pull herself to a kneeling position. Egad.

Her observation and mimicry skills sneak up on one, too. Last night she was playing with some new measuring cups and a book about singing pigs (yes, I know) and I was munching on a plate of apple slices. Hannah watched while banging her cups into her book. And then she plunked down on all fours, tummy-crawled over to the edge of the plate, pulled the plate closer to her, grabbed an apple slice very delicately, sat back up using just one hand, looked up at me, put the apple slice in her mouth and started sucking the juice from it. We had the best time.