Unsteady

Alina's funny way of learning to walk was not to find help in using the furniture. Instead, she would go to the middle of the room, stick her bum in the air, attempt to stand up, and even before she caught her balance she would throw the momentum in to taking a step. This picture is the closest I could come in capturing her haphazard attempts. She rarely made it past the first step before she was back on the ground. True to her nature, she would immediately try again. Her repeated attempts were funny, so after a few weeks of this she figured out this was a way to get us to laugh. The silliness of the game eventually won out over the practicality of learning to walk, so her efforts to walk halted for a bit while she enjoyed showing off her antics.

On this particular day, she stopped to admire the new tree that was in the process of getting set up

Personally, my favorite detail of this photo is the profile of that cheek. It makes me want to smooch them right now!

Just one more item to point out . . . Alina's shoe is untied in the top photo. That is her own doing. I can tie that shoe in a double knot 15 times in a day, and it still gets untied, and even unlaced by our girl. Those are some skills to have, little girl! Great dexterity in fine motor . . . taking out knots of all kinds is something she has already mastered.