New phase?

Sleep is getting worse around here. Most of the last few nights, K has been waking up between 11pm and midnight and crying. The first night I was up for an hour with her, since I started out picking her up to calm her down. Then I tried to put her back into bed when she seemed drowsy, but she'd only start to cry. Then I took her into bed with me, but realized as she sat up and rolled around in bed that she'd likely fall out of bed if I fell asleep. So back to her room we went, and I put her back in her crib and sat down in the rocking chair beside it, with one hand on the crib rail. Then she insisted on standing up, sucking on her fingers, and hanging the other arm over the rail. Soon her head was resting on that arm and she seemed about to fall asleep standing up. So I sat on the floor beside the crib, put my hand between the slats, and she eventually laid down, put her head in my hand, and fell asleep.
The next time it happened, I decided to be clever and just sit beside the crib and put my hand in. It took about 20min, but it worked again. Last night, it took even less time, but 5 min after I got back to bed, she woke up a second time and I had to go back in.
I hope she's going to get over this stage pretty soon!
In other news, K is now able to stand up and balance for 5-20 seconds on her own. I noticed it for the first time last Friday, and she's able to do it for longer periods now. I wonder how long it will be before she's ready to take a few first steps?
Tita swears she said "woof woof" this morning when she saw a dog outside the public school we went to for a drop-in. And that she'll say "roar" when asked what a lion says. I hope I start to recognize more words soon! I think she says "hi", "up", "dada", and "mama", but I'm not always convinced I believe she's saying real words.