my own way...

Someone had told me that when it comes to crawling, every child is different, and essentially it comes down to the baby deciding they want to reach something or get somewhere, and they'll do it however they see fit. Some kids scoot. Some roll. Some crawl backwards. Some crawl for only a couple of weeks before pulling themselves up and announcing to the world that crawling is over-rated.

Tummy time is not Alexis' friend. You put her down on her stomach, and while we know she can hold her head up, she gets so angry that she puts her head on her arm, face down, and cries about it. How in the world is she supposed to start crawling like that?? However, when she's sitting, she leans so incredibly far to get to the things she wants, that I figured, in time, she'll tip over and start moving along that way.

Today we went to the pediatrician to check out a random cold that has turned into a raspy, sexy little voice. $20 later, of course, she's fine. (As an aside, she now weighs 21 pounds at almost 8 months old.) As we're waiting in the room, Alexis was sitting on the crinkly, somehow sterile paper that covers the "bed". No need to bring along toys when you're sitting on paper that makes great noise and looks quite tasty to boot.

She was tearing the crap out of this paper, leaning side to side, smacking her hands on it to make what must have been a satisfying crunch. I had to pull away a piece that she was eating. It seemed like an early attempt at a spit ball - wet and slimy and would have stuck to the wall with ease. I put it aside out of her reach. "But I want that," she decided. Reach....reach...reach...tuck in the knee...and tah-dah! She was on her stomach and could play with the nasty spitwad. Was the first time she'd done it! And wouldn't you know, even though she'd tipped onto her stomach, she wasn't freaking out like she usually does when on her belly.

After we left I called Jamie to tell him about this momentous occasion. He shared that last night, he'd dreamed that a mini-version of her was crawling around the house. Freaky!! But, along comes the double edged sword. As I type away, she's sitting on Jamie's computer chair right next to me, playing with whatever it is that I can think to pass her next (within the non-edible, non-chokeable, non-dirty parameters), she decides to lean and tuck. Had it not been for the fact that I'm a good mom keeping an eye on her, she'd have tummy-timed right onto the linoleum. Not her, or my, idea of fun.

So there it is. Hopefully within a few weeks I'll be able to post that she's begun moving along now that she's discovered how to get started. One step (or scoot) at a time!