B stood up unaided for a couple of seconds yesterday.  I could hardly believe it.  It may have been the cutest thing I have ever seen.  The poor thing had an eventful day which started by falling off my bed.  We have the crib sidecarred, and she basically has to climb over me in order to fall.  Normally, I wake up when she does, but she had some kind of allergy attack going on the night before and woke up a bunch of times, so I guess I was unusually tired.  We are lowering the crib today (so she’ll have to climb out of it).  Fortunately, she seems none the worse for the wear.

It is hard not to compare the kids.  Doing so does a disservice to both of them, I think.  They are so different, however, it’s hard not to.  For example, L stood up unaided for the first time at something like 13 months, maybe 14.  She was certainly more than a year old.  We had walked to the mailbox together, her holding my hand, and I couldn’t get the mail without letting go of her hand – so I did.  She stood for several seconds before realizing that she wasn’t holding on to anything at which point she started crying her eyes out.  From then on, she kept a death grip on my hand to prevent it from happening again.  I don’t remember when she first stood by choice – 15 months, maybe?  This continues to be L’s general approach to life.  I feel like I have to push her to step outside her comfort zone, which is quite limited.  I think this is going to present a lot of challenges for both of us.

(Making cupcakes)

B, on the other hand, does not seem to worry about or mind falling.  Yesterday, she was crawling on me, standing up holding onto my legs (I was on my side), and watching the festivities at our neighborhood fourth of July celebration.  She just let go, stood for a couple seconds, and then plopped down on her bum.  She was not the least bit phased about the whole thing.   She is growing up so fast!

On a side note, the fourth made me love our new neighborhood more than ever.  You may recall that our old neighborhood more or less turns into a war zone on the fourth.  It is quite unbelievable and unpleasant.  Last year we stayed at a hotel which we both agree was pretty much the best decision ever, given that I was seven months pregnant and not feeling great.  This year, we walked to our local park (less than a mile) and enjoyed music and the playground and just hanging out.  We didn’t stay for fireworks since they don’t start until 10 around here, but after putting the kids to bed, H and I were able to watch them from our guestroom window.  We could only see the top half, but they were quite beautiful.  They were not really any bigger than the ones neighborhood kids set off at our old place, but they were over the course of half an hour, not from 9 pm until 1 am, and I wasn’t worried about some tweenager setting fire to our house or themselves.