Bumps and Bruises

So Pearl is crawling, pulling up, cruising oh so slowly, and trying to stand up on her own. With all that comes falling, bumping into things, knocking things over; scrapes, scratches, bumps and bruises. She's a pretty tough cookie and only cries if it's a pretty painful tumble that she's taken. Pulling up on the coffee table and then slipping and bonking her head on the edge two days in a row lead to twin bruises on her forehead and some tears. Our carpeted living room sits about four inches higher than the ceramic tiles of the dining room and she has crawled to edge and stopped, putting her hands down feeling the tiles below her, but then she gets stuck and cannot figure out how to get the rest of her body down. Yesterday she was sitting near the edge and before I could get to her she fell over backwards onto the tile - her head made a thump and my heart stopped, but she was fine, whimpered a little but didn't cry.



I think this all has been more painful for me than for her! I feel so many different things about her newfound mobility and the ability to get into mischief and potentially injurous situations. Sorrow that she's growing so fast, that she's left the sweet helpless stage behind; happiness and excitement over seeing her further exploring the world around her and learning how to navigate it; an overwhelming desire to protect her from all the corners and edges and hard objects. I know I can't protect her from everything, I know I cannot prevent every bruise and scrape but I can't help it, I want to so badly!