Adding to her bag of tricks

Prior to today Megan has had 3 options for going from sitting to laying down. She just lays backwards, which of course means she hits her head hard on the floor. Because she is not fond of this, she started fussing when she is ready to lay down. Sometimes, when I don't bail her out she will grab a nearby, inflatable penguin and use it to lay herself down.

We have been working with her to show her how to get down so she can do it by herself. Sometimes I sit sideways on the couch with one leg bent and up on the couch. I sit Megan on top of that leg and she leans back against the couch. We sing songs and play while she is sitting there and she loves it. Today there was a shirt that we had taken off of her on the end of the couch. Megan practically jumped off of my lap onto her tummy to get to it and then she would roll onto her back. I put her back up on my leg to see if she would repeat the behavior and she did several times. This is the same basic movement that she needs to do on the floor - so I was excited that she was doing it.

Later in the day I was playing with her on the floor. I sat her up and bent her leg to get her into position. I then put a toy out in front and to her side and leaned her forward - she immediately rolled over and was laying down. She very slightly bumped her head when she did it but she didn't mind that at all. I cheered for her and sat her back up and she repeated it several times.

The other thing we are working on is her ability to sit up by herself. She wants to do it so badly - she tries so hard to use her abs to sit up. I have her grab my fingers and she pulls herself up to sitting. So today while we were playing I would get her started and then take my right hand away and she would put her arm down on the floor and push herself up. This is a great step in the right direction for her to realize that she can push off of the floor to sit up. We are getting close on this one too.