J. said that she stood for a second yesterday. Today after her shower (which she hated, oh well) she was trying to stand up on the bed-- not doing badly. I can see how she can suddenly almost balance herself. I was delighted, she was delighted, and we spent 15 minutes giggling and laughing as she almost stood up, then fell down again onto the bed. She knows she can nearly do it, and she's very excited and happy about it. She's practising in the lounge on the carpet now.

She stood up this morning. It was very brief, less than a second, on the bed after her bath. She's been trying to stand from plantigrade for a while, but usually her bum is going down as her torso rises. Not today - she stood slightly crouched, not straight backed or legged, just like little kids do.

I'm sure the knows when she's pooed. Today she said "up" to me, then took off towards her room. I didn't follow so she came back and said "upup". So I picked her up and changed her. Time to teach her the sign for "change"

Showed her her _Where's Spot_ book today. She immediately shook her head "No". (from "is he under the bed? No. Inside the piano? No. Etc.")

Tried her on her trike again. She's so much bigger than she was- her feet are easily on the floor, but she still can't do it. It's disappointing, but I guess it just needs to be learned, like everything else.

Apparently a person with DS graduated Melbourne University a few years ago. I searched, but found no info on it.

I watched Ellie take off her shirt a couple of days ago. She struggles a bit, because she takes it off backwards over her head, leaving her arms a bit trapped-- but she can do it.

And she had her first bowl of ice cream this week! We've given her spoonfuls before, but we thought she could have her own for a change. It was strawberry-- and she picked the bowl up and licked it clean!

Very happy girl
Originally uploaded by eleanor alice.

Learned some new signs from ellie this morning.

She's been putting her thumbs together and bouncing them alot recently; neither my partner nor I could figure out what it meant. Turns out it's banana. She's changed the sign she's using for it; before she was pointing one thumb straight up and the other orthogonal to it-- a much better approximation of the sign, really-- but this action must be easier. I was reading to her, and we got to a picture of a banana, and she did the sign.

When we got to a picture of bread, she held each hand flat, and rubbed them together. It's a little bit like the real sign (making a cutting motion with one hand on top of the other hand). It's very encouraging that she's learning new signs quite quickly-- even if we're having a bit of trouble making them out. She's also babbling much more definitely; we're sure she knows what she's saying, even if we don't, yet.

I was filling out a medical form while she played in the other room; went to check on her (no noise==oh oh), and she had brown stuff all over her face! Panic! Relief when I realised it was chocolate. She'd found a chocolate from yesterday in her mum's bag. Clever, greedy, girl.

I've been wondering what the first big disaster will be. Tumbling onto her head on the concrete as she attempts the front door steps? Pulling a drawer from her wardrobe onto her head? Squishing her fingers in the drawers in the coffee table? Falling off a sofa onto her head? We've prepared as much as we can to prevent each one; but she can do more and more each day, and I'm sure she'll find a way of surprising us.

She surprised me today. She was playing with a plastic bag (under supervision), and she put it over her head. I guess it's inevitable; she loves bags and she loves hats. It means I have to keep my diaper bag out of reach, because there's always a plastic bag in there for poos. I kind of didn't believe that plastic bags are really a risk, I thought it was just more overprotection. I tend to let her play with plastic bags that she's found while I'm watching-- I don't want to make them really attractive by grabbing them away every time she finds one. And she really likes putting things into them-- quite tricky for her, holding the bag with one hand and guiding something else into it with the other. Good fine motor skills practice.

So add that to the possible disasters along with climbing over the top of the sofa and falling on her head, reaching up and turning on the hot tap in the bath and scalding herself-- the list goes on...

She was up late with her teeth, up early yesterday morning for whatever reason, then didn't sleep properly before lunch. She's been very rambunctious.

She wouldn't go to sleep this morning-- well, she did, but she woke up and cried. I should have left her, but I got her up and rocked her some more. She was tired, but didn't settle. So I put her in her cot. She started screaming, and screamed for half an hour before falling asleep.

Also this morning, she pointed to the top of the bookshelves where my partner keeps some hats and said "up hat". So we got her one down to play with, figuring she deserved it. Her first 2 word utterance!

She stole a friend's hat at play group the other day. At least, she came home with it in her bag, as well as her own. She loves hats, so if she found it on the ground I'm sure she would have just put it on. It's the sort she likes; soft cotton, shaped, a nice bow at the front, and lavender.