Time stands still?

Kurt and I are constantly amazed and in awe of how much our little girl is able to pick up on her environment and learn every day. We know that she's a baby and that this is her job right now. We know that for the first few years of her life Erin is supposed to eat a lot, grow really fast, and learn as much as she can about her environment and how to put it all together. Still, some days the speed at which she does so is astounding.

There are days when the achievement is something as simple as realizing that the moving black thing in our house is a dog, and other days it's something as major as smiling, laughing, holding her own bottle, or crawling for the first time. Regardless, almost every day there is at least one "Oh my gosh, did you see what she just did?" moment. So, for those of you who are already familiar with Erin's crawling story, what I'm about to relate should come as no surprise.

It started quite simply. A few weeks ago, Erin started trying to pull up on whatever containment device we had her in. Kurt assures me that he saw her stand up twice, but all I'd ever seen was Erin tall kneeling. So, we were both pretty excited when we saw her pull to standing on her playpen. Within two hours, Erin had gone from being a crawler to being able to consistently pull to standing on whatever object she chose on the first try. Later that evening she tried to pull herself up and over her Daddy, pulled to stand at the side of the tub, and tried to climb the first stair holding onto the baby gate. Earlier this evening, she tried to climb up the stairs to help me pet Shadow. Erin is getting much stronger and braver. Tonight, she tried to bypass side-stepping and "cruising" to lift both hands briefly to stand on her own.

There are plenty of moments when I've thought "our life will never be the same", and, the reality is that was true the moment I learned I was pregnant. However, in that moment on Sunday, I really knew it for the first time. As exciting as it is to see Erin stand, it's also a little scary. However, I know that it's all part of making sure that one day Erin will be able to stand on her own two feet regardless of what turmoil and triumphs come her way.

So, for a fleeting moment this Sunday as I watched Erin, time stood still... but only long enough for me to take a deep breath and hang on for the ride!