Always Standing

Daisy is pulling up on EVERYTHING and it is exhausting me to no end because she is still a bit wobbly and slips a lot. She is getting stronger everyday and needs less assistance. This is all happening So fast! Today she pulled up on every piece of furniture we have in our living room; our couch, chairs, baskets, bowls, the TV armoire and me! She is very scared of standing without something supporting her and at this point is no where near walking but, at the rate she is going I'm sure it won't be too much longer.

The downside of Daisy being able to pull herself up is that she has not figured out how to get herself back down and instead she cries and cries until someone helps her lay back down or picks her up. We had the same issue when she learned to roll onto her stomach. She would cry endlessly until someone turned her back over in bed. I'm trying to teach her how to sit herself down so as to hopefully end this drawn out bedtime process as quickly as possible.

I am blown away by how much of a big girl Daisy is now. She plays with me in the kitchen instead of playing with her toys. She follows me all over the house whining and trying to climb my leg. She finally takes longer big girl naps in the morning which are HEAVENLY! I finally get to catch up on some zzz's for the first time since she was born. Thank you Jesus! She is getting the concept of what she is not allowed to touch when I say, "ah ah ah." I don't know why I am saying that instead of no but, for now it is working just fine and she understands me quite well. If she starts crawling for the fireplace (for example) I say, "ah ah ah," and she will immediately stop crawling, sit up and turn and look back at me with a smile on her face. I will say it again and then usually move her away from the fireplace to help her understand that she cannot touch it. It's working well so far! My baby is growing so fast!

UPDATE: Last night was brutal with Daisy. She wouldn't or perhaps simply couldn't allow herself to go to bed. She seems to be driven by some invisible force to stand, again and again and again. As I said, she doesn't know how to sit down and is too scared too so she will literally stand until her legs are shaking for a loonnnngggg time. Last night I went in and repeatedly showed her how to sit, laid her down and soothed her and then walked back out. She did this for an hour so we finally got her up and let her get more energy out since we figured that was what she needed. This morning instead of taking her usual 2 hour nap she napped for 25 minutes and I found her standing up and refusing to sleep any longer. Then when it came time for her second nap of the day I got the most exhausting adventure in my parenting to date. Nearly a two hour battle of patience on my part and a two hour lesson in sitting and self soothing for Daisy.

I am not a fan of CIO as I have said before and I will never be but, I am also not opposed to letting babies learn things with assistance. Daisy must have stood up in her crib at least 20+ times over the two hours that I went in and out. I refused to take her out and teach her that bad habit of her getting her way. I would calm her down, help her sit and then lay her down, stroke her cheek and hair and then walk out. Literally the second I walked out she started screaming and standing again. It was emotionally draining to the millionth degree!! Hearing her cry that much and for that long, knowing that she would be sleeping if she wasn't so excited and confused about standing just broke my heart. Ug. Makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. It's not like it was an easy peasy 20 minutes of hearing my kid cry or something...almost 2 hours. FINALLY, after what felt like an eternity, Daisy fell/sat down and then began to hum while rubbing her blanket between her fingers...my poor exhausted boo boo. Then within 5 minutes she had leaned her face forward and fallen asleep like that. It sure doesn't look comfortable but, I aint messing with it! lol. I think I did a jig of joy!! I did it!!! I stayed strong, patient, loving and consistent and then again, SHE DID IT...she fell asleep on her own. YEAH!!!!!

Now if only it was bedtime because I could sure use a hot bath, gentle music and a pill to knock me out! haha.