FFF: Karis Learning to Stand/Pull Up

Our big girl has been working on her standing skills for the past few months now.  Our PT (Physical Therapist) was so sweet to offer for us to bring home one of her standing frames (below) back in September for Karis to practice standing in.  The frame provides support around her torso, hips, and shins/ankles so that she can maintain the correct position for standing longer than if we were just holding her up.  She began at 12 minutes twice per day, and now she can easily do 30 minutes twice per day (which was the goal).  The standing frame really helped strengthen her muscles and prepare her body for standing, so that now she can stand without the frame for 20-30 minutes at a time! 

As you can see in this animated image, Karis really liked knocking over Enoch's block towers he would build for her.  It was a great source of entertainment during that stage of standing workouts.

Now that Karis has some stamina and strength, she is able to stand against our coffee table.  She doesn't yet have fear of falling over, so she doesn't always hold on, but she will put her little hands up on the edge of the table to stabilize herself when she wants to pull up or sit back down.  Since she has ultra flexible joints, she needs to wear her little high-top shoes when she stands (to protect her ankles and feet), and since we put those on every single time that we stand, those shoes have become her cue for standing.  She will stand without them, but she doesn't yet realize that she can pull up without them on, so she typically only pulls up on the table when her shoes are on and I'm helping her.

Below is a video of her standing by the table.  Usually I put some toys on the table and have Enoch play on the other side, both of which provide enough incentive for her to stand for 30 minutes or so at a time.  As you can see in the video (hopefully), she is very good at pulling up from a bench seat (my leg is serving as a bench in the video) and also at sitting back down onto the bench.  We are working right now on the transition up from the floor, and that is much harder, especially with those shoes on because they get all caught up on the floor and her clothes, not to mention that it's straight up just more work.  So she doesn't like that practice as much, but she's a trouper and tolerates it for at least a little while.  Our PT is also very helpful in learning how to correctly teach her those transitions, so I'm (yet again) thankful to have her assistance!