Trying to stand (with video clips!)

As HG continues in her determined efforts to stand, we bring you for the first time: Video clips of Hannah Geitel!

She's working very hard on learning to stand. She will often push herself up with her legs, but she simply is not strong enough and in any case hasn't quite mastered the technique. Once stood up by her Ima or Abba, however, she can stand for quite some time. She will sometimes even let go with one hand, and continue holding on with just the other for a while.

Occasionally, she will try to let go altogether and end up on her tush, often managing to slump into a dignified sitting position rather than sprawling on her back or side.

When she has finished nursing she likes to wiggle into a sit facing Ima, on a cushion or Ima's lap, and then she'll push up with her legs into a standing position leaning against Ima for support.

In this video clip, you can see her indicate that she wants to stand up, then try (and fail) to stand up by herself. Then she stands while holding the arches with both hands, and she suddenly lets go and falls splat! (Sorry about the odd camera work...)

This second video clip shows her reach for Abba's nose!

Please let us know if you have any trouble downloading the video files. They're best viewed in full-screen mode.

An all-fours crawl

For the first time today, HG crawled a couple of steps in the classic all-fours position. Until now, she's mostly crawled by raising her tush high in the air and propelling herself forward with her legs, often with her head jammed against the ground. Once she masters all-fours, she'll be unstoppable!

A one-handed stand

HG continues to grow stronger and improve her balance. Today, for the first time, she supported herself standing using only one hand. While she was standing with her hands on the arches, as she likes to do, she removed her left hand and used it to play with the stuffed animal toys hanging in front of her. She stayed in that position for a few minutes, and when she finally fell, she fell into a sitting position.

Sorry we don't have a photo for you, but Ima was the only one home, and she was standing right behind HG in case she slipped. When we manage to get a picture, you'll see it here first!

She sat up!

A milestone: This morning, HG sat up by herself.

We're not quite sure how she did it, since Ima was looking away at the time. But one minute she was playing in a crawling position, the next she was sitting upright. She stayed that way for a good ten minutes, using her free hands to play with her toys.

Kol hakavod,Hannah Geitel!


On the verbal front, she just loves blowing raspberries - it's become her "joke" and she expects it to draw laughter. She tried it on all our Shabbat guests. In general, she seems to be experimenting with the sounds she can make with her lips, gums and tongue: th, zh, dh (anything that doesn't require teeth). She's also started sucking on her lower lip with her upper gum (see picture) - we assume this is related to teething.

She's become much more confident about standing (while holding onto something, of course). She maintains her position for long periods of time, and adjusts her balance as necessary. Today, while holding Ima's fingers, she easily took several steps across the floor.

She's finally managed to activate the "kick and play" pad by hitting it with her hand. Sometimes she also tries to work out what to do with the switch behind it, but so far without luck.


A few weeks ago, we got her some Fisher Price stacking rings. At first, she reached for the top ring, but couldn't take it off, so she just knocked the stack over to get to the rings. She's been learning how to handle them, though. Now she can remove the top three rings one at a time (sometimes she takes two together) without tipping the stack. She's not ready to stack them back together yet, though.

In a store the other day, she noticed another baby, a year or so old. They smiled at each other and clearly wanted to play. They reached out to touch each other's faces and gave each other hugs. Awww...


To close, a picture of her in her high chair, about to knock the Coke bottle onto the floor. Yes, it's a bit big on her, but she likes sitting in it (for a while, at least).

Hannah Geitel's day out

HG had an exciting day out today. Even by HG's perky standards, today was an exceptionally smiley, verbal and giggly day for her.

She and her Ima met up with a close family friend for brunch at a local cafe. There the entire kitchen staff came out to coo over her. They also brought out a highchair, and while HG is small, she is sitting well and enjoyed trying out the new contraption, though Ima remained right next to her to make sure she didn't slip.

Brunch was followed by a nature excursion, HG's second this week. On Shabbat Abba, Ima and HG went up to a local nature/archaeological site a short walk from home. Today HG, Ima and a friend went up to the same site but via a different, and far less even path. HG giggled and smiled as the buggy bumped up the slope, she actually seemed to prefer the rockier stretches.


The first crocuses and other small wildflowers have just started appearing after the first downpours of the rainy season, but HG, as befits her age, was oblivious, fascinated instead by simply swiveling her head to take in the landscape.

As on Shabbat she fell asleep halfway up the hill, but woke up along the flatter part of the trail, in time to enjoy the big sheizaf (spiny jujube) tree on the far side of the hill.

Ima took her out of the pushchair so that she could meet the large sprawling tree up close. When her hand was placed on the trunk HG smiled and pushed her hand up against the bark, studying the new texture. Then she looked up, threw her head back and was transfixed for quite some time by the gently waving canopy of leaves and crabapple-like fruit - it was hard to prise her away.

When an F-16 flew over HG looked up to locate the strange sound (not a common sound or sight over our town) but unlike her aircraft enthusiast Ima, she doesn't yet have the eyesight to pick out a small, fast moving greyish aircraft flying at altitude through a pale sky. She did seem to notice a couple of low flying helicopters though, once again attracted by the sound and briefly turning in their direction.

HG dozed off again on the way home, but awoke half an hour later with a little cry, her smile returning immediately upon seeing Ima. Ima took her to the bathroom to freshen up after her day out in nature, and while holding HG in the sink, HG was as usual fascinated by the mirror. Ima made a face in the mirror and HG threw back her head and rolled her eyes up to check that the woman holding her was the same as the one in the mirror. This is something she has been doing for the last two weeks.


Then Ima made a funny sound to go with the funny face and HG started to laugh. HG made a sort of gurgly raspberry sound and Ima laughed and imitated the sound back to her. HG laughed back, and did the sound again, accompanied by a bright "gi", one of HG's favourite sounds, then looked up at Ima expectantly, as though she had just told a great joke and was waiting to see how it went down. Ima laughed and made the sound back to HG, and HG seemed thrilled, erupting into gails of uncontrollable laughter, pausing every time ima stopped laughing to repeat her "punchline" - gurgly raspberry and "gi".

HG kept up this routine, giving Ima a mischevous look, repeating her punchline and then laughing for about 20 minutes straight! HG has laughed for some time now, but never this uproariously and never for so long at one time. It was like two kids who have heard a funny story and all they need to do is repeat the one word punchline to set them off laughing hysterically.

Even after her humour session, as Ima was changing her nappy, HG kept looking up at ima, giving a big smile, and then saying "gi" or doing her raspberry and giving little chuckles.

She seemed energised by her day out, acting playful and smiley well past her bedtime, as though she was waiting for Abba to come home so that she could tell him all about her adventures. Only after she had a good play with Abba was she willing to turn in for the night.

And a good time was had by all.

More of the same

More of the same this week. She's sitting better and longer than before, and the same goes for standing (holding on, of course). One innovation: A few times, when she was standing while holding on to the arches, she let go with one hand and lowered herself into a sitting position, while still holding on with the other. We're not sure yet if it's an intentional maneuver or not, but it's impressive to watch.


Her play mat has a kick pad, which plays music when whacked or kicked (see picture). She's been busily trying to activate it by pushing it with her hands. Unfortunately, it really only goes off when hit, not when pushed, so she hasn't managed to activate it often, at least not intentionally. She is more used to buttons that need to bne pressed than a pad which need to be hit! But she keeps trying...

She's reaching and grasping with greater precision. When held near a bookshelf, she'll examine the books for a while, and then reach out carefully for one book and start pulling it out from the shelf. In the baby store she reaches for toys, and once gave a tug on a stroller- moving it quite a distance - she really has become quite strong. At mealtimes, of course, she reaches for our food. (We just bought a high chair; we hope she likes it.)

Playtime often lasts longer now that she's more mobile, since she can move from toy to toy. She'll play with something for a while, then either she gets tired or the toy rolls out of her reach, and she'll move on to something else. She rolls and crawls and shifts and rotates to get where she wants to go. All is well until she rolls or crawls off her playmat and onto the hard floor, which is uncomfortable and dangerous. So we still can't go too far away when she's playing. We're planning to get more carpeting and a bigger mat.

She has become more interested in playing peekaboo, or more precisely, when her ima plays peekabo with her. She likes it when ima turns away then turns back to her with a funny animal noise, a bark, a growl, a howl or a more conventional boo. She laughs uproariously during these games, waving her hands and clamouring for more. In general, her playtime with ima has become much more interactive with her enjoying a variety of songs with actions (ima has to move HG's hand to do the actions, but she is getting the gist of things).

In the last week she has started playing with her ears while nursing. We think it might have something to do with teething, but on the other hand, she loves grabbing and playing with anything within reach, so perhaps her ears are just conveniently close? She folds her ears, pushes them into her head, tugs them away from her head, pulls them, squishes them, and generally has a good time with them. What handy toys!

A more upright individual

HG is busy learning to be a more upright individual. She's sitting straighter than before, no longer needing to support herself with her hands constantly. Her back is strong enough and she's balancing well enough that she can free one or more hand to play with while sitting (as with the empty juice container here). Sometimes she manages to sit for five minutes or more at a time. She's still at constant risk of tipping over, though. Keep working at it, kid!


She's also standing better. She can now stand while supporting herself on the arches of her playmat, as shown here. (Abba is behind her in case she slips, but he isn't supporting her.) While standing like that, she takes little steps to reposition herself, and sometimes she is confident (or foolhardy?) enough to release one hand to play with. She's not quite strong enough to support herself with just one hand for long, though. Worse, the arches aren't strong enough to support her weight if she shifts the wrong way. Good thing Abba's behind her! (And a good thing she can't raise herself to a sitting or standing position unaided!)


We've already mentioned her animal noise gadget. Here's a picture - she's been enjoying it greatly this week. She just presses one button after another to hear the sounds.

In general, her hand motions are more delicate now. Instead of just grabbing, she will reach carefully and precisely to take someone's glasses!

Have we mentioned that she wipes her mouth? She's been doing for a long time, so we might have forgotten. When her mouth is wet she'll wipe it with a cloth or her clothing. She doesn't like being a mess!

She doesn't do this, though. Must have been a fluke. Sure looked real at the time, though.


After a three-week visit, she finally had to say goodbye to her great-uncle Ivor. She's looking forward to seeing him again in a couple of months.

Ready for Shul

HG wearing her first winter dress, ready in her buggy and waiting to go to shul with her abba.