Sunday, August 5, 2007

Salma's Kiss; Getting Ready to Walk

If I ask Salma to give me a kiss, she will sometimes do so and sometimes turn away. If I lean in to give her a kiss, she often kisses me back.

Yesterday Laura and I were getting ready to go out for an evening walk. I was holding Salma in my arms, and because I knew she was tired (it was only an hour before her bedtime) I was speaking to her softly, telling her how we'd go for a walk and wave to the neighbors and see the doggies and the skateboarders, and then we'd come home and Mama would give her a bath, etc. Suddenly she turned to me without any prompting and gave me a kiss on the cheek, as if she was thanking me for my reassuring speech. She's never done that before and I was touched.

Salma started crawling late, and it seems her crawling phase will be short, as she is already pulling herself up to standing, strengthening her legs in preparation for walking. She loves to grab my computer cart and haul herself up, then grab my pens, highlighters, tape dispenser and other office supplies and throw them on the ground.

Anytime she's sitting down and you reach out a hand to her, she will pull herself up and begin walking, with help. She loves this. She laughs as she walks, as if it's a game. Her balance is still poor, so she takes not more than twenty or thirty steps, then sits down.

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