Attempting to stand on her own

Changes and advancements have been coming so thick and fast lately that I'm having trouble keeping up with the posts. I have had a couple ready here and there that I just had to eliminate, because she moved onward and upward to the next stage too quickly!
Here she is wearing her squeaky shoes from China for the first time. She has been resistant to two things in the sartorial department: hats and shoes. Mostly hats, of course. Because, as we discussed, hats are evil. But shoes were verboten as well for a while. Finally, I started having her wear the soft leather slippers that Heather sent. Those were enough like socks that she allowed them on her feet...that, and they have little ladybugs on them, which she loves!
Well, after three days of the soft shoes, she suddenly didn't mind the squeakies. Normally, I have her do walking practice barefoot, because I think it helps her to find her balance...feel out all the tiny bones and muscles in her feet. But I figured, if she was going to allow them, I'd let her get used to the shoes today, and see how they squeak.

She was lookin' pretty happy about the whole shebang.


You can just see from her stance and her expression how far her confidence has come in the past few days alone.

And then.....

....this was the moment that she let go. Look at the concentration on her face! This was her first time letting go without me sitting directly in front of her for moral support.

A few seconds later, she tipped just a tiny bit backward, and scared herself.

Normally, she'd be right back at it, no crying involved. But she was already overdue for her nap at this point, so........