Mobile Baby
Crawling
It was a few days ago when Quinn finally figured out that magical limb coordination that changed her from a reliable blob on the floor, to hell-on-wheels. Well, hell-on-wheels is an exaggeration as her crawl is still on the sloppy side. Her arms move in the traditional “crawling” position and move accordingly, however her legs do a very strange shuffle that somehow propel her forward. Her legs are a mix between a traditional crawl/bear crawl/military crawl. She’ll focus on an object she wants, which is usually around 4-5 Quinn lengths away. She’ll then lunge forward and proceed with caution. She will crawl only as far as she thinks she needs to then sits herself up. If she comes up short, she repeats. I’m calling this crawling. She has not yet set her sights on anything too far away… for instance, me in the other room. She’ll lunge in my direction, then just stare in my direction and whine while I shout bits of encouragement to her… “come on Quinn”… “keep crawling”… “come get mommy…” The encouraging words don’t seem to be creating much action yet as they seem to just remind her that I’m in the other room and NOT picking her up. Which reminds me that I need to use this time, before she is actually hell-on-wheels, to finish baby-proofing the house.
My big dilemma/question is, what do I do with the evil cat litter box? Our house is simply not large enough to conveniently store it out of baby’s reach, yet within kitty-cat reach. I’m contemplating placing it on the back-porch, but that would require us to install a cat-door which I’m not crazy about. Any ideas?
I Stand Alone
Along with this skill is her new found desire to stand ALL THE TIME. This as well as pulling herself up and stand at whatever is close… the couch, a chair, coffee table, my legs. She carefully pulls herself up, then lets go so she’s standing alone. One of three things happen at this point, she either (1) falls on her butt, (2) she falls towards the object that she was holding, or (3) falls all the way to the floor and hits her head. Even though she is often brought to tears when she falls, she is so determined to stand alone, that once the water-works have stopped, she goes right back to this activity.
Climbing Stairs
Quinn loves to stand on the stairs and look up, as she tries to figure out, where daddy’s voice is coming from. His office is upstairs and he can be heard but not seen. I’m afraid I’ve created a bad habit because, she is officially bored with standing at the stairs and banging on the steps… She now climbs up the stairs. Unbeknownst to her, she needs my help to complete this activity, however I don’t do much except hold her back, so she doesn’t fall backwards. As we reach the summit, I can tell her little legs get tuckered out, so I’ll give her a little push on her butt. She is beyond proud of herself when she reaches to top. It’s hilarious seeing this little blob of a person make their way up our 13 steps. I think she’s going to be a bit disappointed when I put that baby gate up.
Vo-cab Comprend-o
Her current word comprehension list is:Mommy. Daddy. Kitty-Cat. Bird. Dog. She may be comprehending much more than this, however, when I say these words to her she clearly understands. For example when I say “where’s the bird?” She looks up in the sky, trying to spot one. When I say “Where’s the kitty?” She quickly scans the room, looking for Maya the cat. This whole word comprehension thing is so fascinating and I know that if you don’t have children this probably won’t blow you away as it has Jake and I. But seriously people, I don’t know what could be more fascinating than watching your child learn one new thing after another. It’s an amazing gift.
And with that I’m off to wipe a snotty-nosed-afro-bedhead baby.
