Gravity
Louisette still thinks the best way to get to the ground from the couch is to crawl off, thus landing face-first. On the up side, she has grasped the idea that it’s good to have some control when she’s shifting from a standing to a sitting position. Sometimes she will simply cry when she wants to sit, but as she grow in confidence, she practises and gets better.
With a certain amount of trepidation, CJ and I decided that since Louisette is climbing anyway, we should teach her to crawl up stairs (our stairs have walls on both sides and are carpeted with no sharp edges, so as far as stairs go they’re an ideal learning environment).
“Water conditioning” is when you teach a very young child to hold their breath underwater by having a specific phrase that you say every bathtime just before pouring water over their face. In time, a baby learns to shut their eyes and hold their breath, and then you can begin teaching them to put their head under the water (without them inhaling too much and going into a pre-drowning state). We’ve been doing this every bathtime and swim time for month, and at first we were pleased that Louisette didn’t mind having water poured over her. Unfortunately her attitude these days seems to be, “Hurrah! A drink!” – an attitude which applies even when she accidentally crawls into deeper water at the pool.
And yes, if you’re wondering, we give her plenty of water to drink during the rest of the day! Ah well.
Felicity Banks 
stace8383 said,
October 3, 2012 at 8:46 am
Gravity is the enemy! Evelyn just fell of a chair onto her head on a wooden floor. 😛 Oh well, she’s ok. Babies bounce. 😉
Louise Curtis said,
October 4, 2012 at 7:04 am
And thank goodness for that! (…the bouncing, not the falling on one’s head…)
Jolyon Bloomfield said,
October 5, 2012 at 4:05 am
Heya Louise,
I came across this today, and wanted to share it with you. It’s not quite Steampunk, but it’s terrifically awesome regardless! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RPhnQ9H2QQ
Best,
~J
Louise Curtis said,
October 5, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Thanks for the thought!