New Talents

Since I started watching Jackson Daniella has become more curious about her surroundings. She is exploring every area of the apartment she can.

One of her new favorite things to play with is the DVD shelf. She discovered this the first day Jackson came and I was a little worried that she would fall from taking DVDs off the shelf, so I kept helped her sit down a few times so she wouldn't slip. I think this partially encouraged her to try harder to stand and get the DVDs off the shelf. She pulled about 6 DVDs off and dropped them on the floor the first day. Then a couple days ago she was able to take a DVD off, look at it and then place it back on the shelf between the other DVDs. It was on it's side, but still back where it belonged. I was very impressed.

Daniella has a passion for making music. She loves the piano, keyboard and organ and even enjoys the guitar on occasion. She is fascinated by the new CD player in her room and is desperate to learn how it works. Recently, she has found a few new sounds she can make with her own body. She blows raspberries on my belly. She takes one finger and tries to wiggle it between her lips while vocalizing. When I read her "From Head to Toe" and talk to her about the gorilla and how it pounds it's chest, she will say "Ahhh" while I pat her chest for her (Similar to Tarzan). Then yesterday, while I was trying to feed Daniella I lightly patted Jackson's chest to calm him down. Daniella saw me do this, stopped eating, looked at Jackson and said "Ahhhhh" as if to tell him what he was supposed to be doing.

Yesterday Daniella discovered that she can use almost anything as a walker (the kitchen chair, her bumbo chair, her incrediblock, etc.). I was impressed because she first uses the item to stand without pushing on it at all and then lowers her torso and gets her back into the push to make it go. I'll add pictures after I get them.

Today Daniella was able to stand by herself for about 7 seconds. She even stooped down to pick up a toy and stood up for a couple seconds all without support. She seems to do all of this without really thinking about it and it I don't think she realizes what she is capable of yet.