If there’s one thing we’ve learned about our girl over the past almost-ten months, it’s that she is strong, determined, and stands tall on her own two feet. Literally. Madelyn is now a standing machine! She used to crawl to objects. Now she crawls to surfaces that she can pull up on and stand.

At first, she would slowly pull up her trunk to a wobbly standing position and lean her whole body on walls or furniture.

I can almost pull myself up onto Mom and Dad's crib!

Then, she started to glide right up and hold on with her hands in a tight grip.

I'm scheming about all the trouble I can get into from up here!

Those days passed and she started to spring up to use one hand for support while turning around or taking focus away from the surface.

Oh, isn't this amazing? It's my fav'rite part because you'll see... Here's where she meets Prince Charming! But she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter threeeeeeeeee

Mr. Teddy Bear isn't breathing and needs mouth-to-mouth. Good thing I can stand and hover over him. Trust me. I'm a doctor.

After all that, she figured out balance and how to use just her feet to stabilize herself.

I'm standing unassisted AND doing the Miss America wave. Someone get me a tiara!

Madelyn has stood on her own for about five to ten seconds at a time and then squats back down on her tushie, totally unfazed by any tumbles or falls that happen from time to time. She is so close to holding a standing pose for a long time, which tells me she’s close to walking soon.

Walking! WALKING?! Wasn’t she just born, consisting of a lumpy blob in an organic swaddle blanket?

What I can’t even handle is how Madelyn now plays with her rainforest baby gym. Only a handful of months ago, she would lay on the colorful mat and look up at the hanging toys, swatting them and staring at the bright lights. A few synapses and lots of muscle strength later, she now stands on top of the baby gym, making it the Empire State Building to her inner King Kong. How I miss the little newborn who looked up at it with such wonder and remained in one place, allowing for a few personal mommy moments in order to shower or clean the room. Not even a whole tube of Super Glue could keep that girl’s legs still to take in the baby gym. She climbs all over it like a cat for the few seconds of attention span she can allot it. Times have changed for us all. My showers are way shorter.

Me, as a useless, immobile blob. What a wimp!

Raaaawwwwrrr! Me, as a powerful and dominating un-horizontal beast baby!

With Madelyn on the move, it’s clear that she’s more of an almost-toddler and less of a complete infant. She continues to amaze us and with her stand-and-deliver routine, she’s Jaime Escalante and she’s teaching us all about looooove.

Madelyn has grown in many different ways and it’s really no miracle because that’s what babies do. And now that she’s becoming more and more vertical, she has proven to be a stand up girl and we love her for that.