new stuff part 1: pigtails and standing up

It's funny how the little things help you realize how fast your kids are growing up. You wouldn't think Cayla having her hair a bit different would be the trigger that would make me have one of those, man, she's starting to become a little girl moments. But it did. It make me realize she is moving into the toddler phase. It made me realize she has a lot of hair. Enough, apparently, to separate it into two different rubber-banded sections called pigtails. This dad just has one question: when did this all happen?

We snapped these two pictures from behind because she wasn't cooperating with a good front picture. That's okay, I think it's cute to see the part in her head.

Cayla has also been doing lots and lots of standing lately. For a while now, she has been able to pull herself up and stand against something, like the picture above. But now she is discovering that with a little bit of balance, she can just hang out up there without needing anything else to lean against.

It's really cool to see. She puts her butt up in the air first like she's going to do a somersault. When her butt is sufficiently in the air high enough, she starts to push her upper body up with her arms. Soon she is standing all the way up all by herself. It doesn't take long until her rookie legs start to give out and she is landing with a thud on her padded butt. But each day she is getting a little better. Her record is about 4 seconds or so, unofficially.

And Cayla knows when she has a good one, she will start clapping immediately at her good fortune and skill. It's not only hilarious, but extremely exciting for us as we are crossing over into new territory here. It's hard not to get ahead of ourselves and wonder how many more weeks it will be until she adds a few steps. (Oh yeah, and she is also climbing steps all by herself!). It's pretty exciting for us and it's hard to imagine the love we have for her. More new stuff in the next blog.