Sara Update Week Ending May 19th, 2001

Hello,

This week has Sara on the move.

She crawls everywhere. We have a doormat in front of the door that has served as a moat. Sara won't cross it and get outside because it is scratchy...until this week. Sara crawled through the moat and found herself outside. Go Sara!

She stands on anything. We have a wood stove in the kitchen that sits on the platform where the pantry is located. Sara bypasses the wood stove to get to the other items in the pantry. Sara didn't give the wood stove the time of day...until this week. Sara climbed onto the lip of the wood stove, stood up and started tugging on the iron doors of the wood stove. Go Sara!

Sara climbs everything. We have a flight of stairs that go up to the second floor. Sara has only used the stair as something to stand on. She wasn't interested in climbing the stairs...until this week. While Victoria was watching and standing close by, Sara climbed four stairs all by herself. Go Sara!

Playdates. Victoria brings Sara to baby playdates every week so Sara can interact with other babies. It is fun to watch Sara venture off on her own. She crawls to the other babies and touches them on the shoulder or tries to hold their hands. She crawls to toys that are unfamiliar to her to examine them. Sometimes she will take a toy away from another baby. Sometimes another baby will take a toy away from Sara. Sometimes Sara gets the toy back, sometimes not. Sara doesn't cry. She just finds another toy.

Parks. Sara loves the baby swing. It makes her laugh and laugh and laugh. No surprise :)

Sara is a joy to be around. She smiles easily, is excited about the world around her, shows little if no fear, is quickly consoled, laughs at the dog, wants to play, likes other people, wants to make physical contact with other babies, hugs, snuggles, cuddles, rolls, lounges, and melts our hearts every day.

Love to all, Alan and Victoria

Week ending May 13, 2001

Hello Everyone,

It has been a few weeks since the last update. Alan was out of town and well, that's enough to get off schedule. Sara has been developing the whole time so here's what's new (updates first).

Update: Teeth are continuing to come in. There are two bottom teeth coming in together. They have broken through the gum and are slowly getting taller.

Standing. Sara's standing skills continue to improve. She still needs something to brace herself on, but she doesn't need a railing anymore. She can stand using almost everything (except Cleo who moves).

Crawling. Sara's crawling skills are impressive. She can make short order of a room now. Don't blink, she can really move. Her curiosity pulls her in certain directions and we laughed out loud when all we saw were tiny feet moving away, going around the corner and then gone. Where's Sara?

What's new? Crawling up a stair. We have a platform in the kitchen and Sara has learned to get on it. It's like crawling onto a stair. The dog's food is (was) up there and Sara crawls to it and takes the dry food out and drops it on the tile. Thankfully, she doesn't try to eat it (yet).

Although her crawling up a stair skills have arrived, her crawling down a stair skills are yet to be developed. You can imagine....

Waving. Sara has started to wave. Her first wave was to Cleo, her second wave was to Alan in a mirror and her third wave was to a stranger in a store. So far, three waves.

Understanding. Sara's intellect grows every day. She will now look for an object if she drops it. If she wants something on a blanket, she knows to pull the blanket which brings the object to her instead of crawling to the object. She will recognize you in the mirror but knows to look away from the mirror and at you (meaning, she understands the mirror is showing an image, not containing a person inside of it).

Cruising. Cruising is a pre-stage to walking. It means Sara can stand using the couch, move down the couch and grab onto another object and therefore, move around while standing up. It's kind of like holding onto the edge of the pool to make your way around the perimeter. Very cool.

Well, that's the big news. Hope everyone is well.

Love to all, Alan and Victoria