Back to School and Knee-Walking

Lara has gone back to nursery today after having Monday and Tuesday off - yesterday was "mum's day". She's definitely making a transition from crawling on all-fours to knee-walking, so I don't think it will be too long before she pulls herself up and stands on her own two feet. Last night she was able to stand up while holding my hands, without me actually holding her, for a couple of minutes. She was even confident enough to hold on with one hand for a short time, and when her leg started to give way she was alert enough to correct herself and stand up straight again - it was amazing to see the concentration on her face for the few seconds while she worked it all out.
She still has a cold but it's not as bad as previous ones, who knows, perhaps her antibodies are learning their role too? Despite this her sleeping is back to being good again, last night she slept continuously from 8pm until 6am, so hopefully she'll keep this up once her cold has cleared up. Her appetite is down a little, but maybe it's actually normal now and we're comparing it to how she was in previous weeks when she would eat anything put in front of her. In one visit to the kitchen she decided to contemplate trying Mishka's food too, but Olga was able to intervene before her hand reached her mouth.

NOT Lara!!

Mishka can eat Lara's leftover food, but not the other way round. His food bowl goes onto the kitchen worktop now when Lara's in the kitchen, but that didn't stop her washing her hands in his waterbowl yesterday.
Whilst in the kitchen, she began her training for being a good wife in the future by learning how the washing machine door opens and closes, and by putting Dad's slippers in. Was it a hint?
My final observation of the week has been how determined she is - I'm sure in the long run this will be an admirable and useful character trait, but it might be a right pain in the bum during those years from 2-17. She loves to push her larger toys round the dining room floor, but this means negotiating the numerous table and chair legs, and in most cases when she gets stuck she'll let out a clear "I'm annoyed about this" yell - not a cry - then push and pull the toy until she gets it free. I've seen her succeed more times than fail.