Madeleine stands

Madeleine's new favorite game has been to stand up at my big exercise ball, whack her hands upon it wildly, then throw both arms up in the air for as long as she can stand on her own, and finally fall down on to her bum with giggles. This kid has been completely uninterested in trying to stand on her own if I attempt to let go of her hands. She starts buckling her knees to sit down as soon as I take just one hand away. So I'm glad to see she's experimenting on her own with standing. Sometimes she'll really surprise herself and stand for quite a long time - today she even managed to clap her hands for herself while standing on her own. The best part is that while she stands, she starts to giggle with anticipation of the big ka-boom that's about to come, and the longer it takes to lose her balance, the funnier it seems to be. Today I tried letting go of her hands to see if she would take to standing on her own, and she did - I even managed to get a couple of pictures. (Though the funny part is that she still needs to throw her arms up in the air for some reason, just like she does when letting go of the exercise ball):





I also got a little bit of her ball-play on video, completely with wild, hand-smacking delight: