sitting.

at a few days shy of eighteen months, shilo can sit alone.  the effort it took to force her convince her to sit makes me want to throw a little party.  i'll save that for walking though.
perhaps you are trying to navigate the same thing, and are wondering what finally convinced her to sit.  this parenting the most stubborn toddler a child with special needs in not for the faint of heart.
one night, i sat shilo on those very letter tiles she's sitting on in this photo.  they are foamy/rubber.  not hard.  not super soft.  but soft enough.  i sat her up, and didn't catch her when she decided to fall back.  it was a tough love moment.  jason was certain it was the worst thing he'd ever witnessed.  but, the next day is when she showed off her mad sitting skills for her therapist.  and she has continued to get better and better since then.  she still gets mad about it sometimes.

and we giggle a little bit at the level of drama involved.  and i remind her over and over again that she is more than capable of leaning over and rolling out of the position.  she eventually remembers and does it.  it may sound a little unorthodox.  this willful little, has to be outwilled though.  and if we rush in to rescue her all the time, it will increase the length of time it takes her to do each new skill.  i think God knew that shilo needed a tough mama who knew when to push, and when to scoop her up and snuggle her.  and He knew that shilo would push that whole, 'i need saved look' to the extreme.

i see you are all done sitting shilo.  feel free to sit yourself back up and hold up your arms to ask mama to pick you up.  this, however.  this, will get you a camera in your face.  because this mama doesn't respond to drama.  ask your big sister.  drama gets you sent to your room until you pull yourself together. and it gets you left in the middle of the kitchen floor until you sit yourself up and use your words.  we love you.  but our standards will not be lowered.

in all seriousness, we are very proud of our little.  abigail even signs to her, 'good sitting' over and over again.  our days are shifting towards as much time sitting as there is laying.  and, i have become slightly scared of what our next milestone is.  probably time to start thinking about baby-proofing.  we never had to do this for our big.  all it took was a 'don't touch that' and she was compliant most of the time.  i don't think that will be the case-between shilo's strong will and abigail often singing, 'go shilo, go' when she is being naughty.  *sigh*  for now, i will enjoy her sitting.

mad skillz.

don't worry, i'm aware that the title just relays my utter uncoolness.  none the less, i thought i would share a few of our girls newer skills.
we'll start with abigail.  let's see who can guess what abigail has recently learned to do all by herself!

i'm pretty super proud of myself. .. 

...because i can button.

yeah, we know it's crooked.  and we didn't fix it before bed.  we just don't care so much about perfect at our house.  but man are we proud of her.  i didn't work with her on it.  she was putting the pajamas on one night and said, 'watch me mama,'  and she did it.  just like that.  she also learned the word perseverance when i told her how proud i was of her for persevering when she was having trouble getting one of the buttons.  we only have zippers and tying left, and then it will feel like we most definitely have a kindergartner.

shilo's still working on her sitting skills mostly.  but she also has one other thing she has started doing regularly that went by completely unnoticed when abigail did it.  but for shilo, it's a big deal.  it means we are moving in the direction of some day being able to move around on our own.  the picture isn't her best form, but she has started sleeping like this most of the time.

sleeping with my knees under me.

you see, this means that shilo can get her knees underneath of her by herself (they really are usually all the way under her with her little butt up in the air).  lots of babies do this.  but for us, it means that shilo has down a step that she needs for creeping and crawling.  it's funny the things we took for granted with abigail that all of a sudden seem like a huge milestone!

oh, and this video is just to let you know, that her feelings about sitting aren't much different than they were a week ago, although she is getting better and better at it.  her p.t. may have laughed at her monday when she cried at her, turned to make sure she was watching, and then went back to crying, because she had to sit.  she has apparently been taking drama lessons from someone around three years older than her.  and she's learning from the best.

there you have it.  our girls are pretty rocking awesome.  we love getting to celebrate each and everything they do!

will.

it's sort of a common thing to hear people talk about their children having strong wills.  with our big, we fought battles, but she does not have a strong will.  she easily ate what i told her to if she wanted the dessert after.  if she wasn't supposed to play in something, or touch something, she didn't.
she isn't always obedient.  she's sassy, dramatic, and full of life.  but when push comes to shove, she's more than willing to back down and do what's being asked of her (albeit it with a bad attitude some days).
little.  she's already giving us a run for our money.  she does not. want. to. sit.  if you would like to hold her in a sitting position that's fine, maybe put her in the bumbo?!  but on her own, no thank you, i'll lay on the floor, thank you very much.  it's not that she isn't capable.  i've seen her do it.  her therapist have affirmed that she has the physical capabilities.  but she would prefer not to.
what she doesn't know is that she isn't capable of out-willing her mama.  she will sit.  on her own.  and we will do it all day long, with me making certain she isn't throwing herself back, until she decides it's her preferred position.  

sitting on my own.

and i'm done.

the two white things on either side of her head are her socks.  so she's still technically in the sitting position, just with her head on the floor between her legs.  she's not sleeping, or pouting.  she's actually yelling, 'duhduhduhduhduh' to express her displeasure with my attempts at getting her to sit.
oh, but you know where she does prefer sitting up?  not on a nice solid floor that gives ample support. nope.

sitting, with mama's hands close by.

that's right.  she likes sitting alone in the bathtub.  slippery, sliding back and forth, mama certain that she is going to get a face full of water, sitting.
oh, such a big will, in such a small girl.  i get the feeling we are in for it this time around.