It will be any day now when our stationary gal becomes a cruising crawler. Already we can see the progress she’s made with her efforts to crawl. She used to sit on her haunches like a puppy and rock back and forth on her arms. Now she has progressed to scooting on her belly like a beached whale. When she’s on her belly, we try to place objects just out of her reach as incentive to crawl. But lately she gets rather impatient and frustrated with her efforts and she grunts angrily if she can’t reach the object.
She’s also perfected her sitting-up technique. From lying down, she rolls to her side and then does a sideways pushup to the sitting position. We’re still not quite accustomed to this newfound skill. It still makes me chuckle when I peek into her room at nap time to see her sitting up in her crib. Don’t worry parents; we’ve already lowered the bed frame on the crib so she can’t topple over the sides.
During play time (which really is any time she’s not pooping, napping, or eating), she gets rather restless after a few minutes of play and needs new stimulation. My father likes to say that when she’s ready to move, you’d better be there to pick her up to change “stations”.
We currently have 5 stations in our home. On a good day, the jumperoo – which by the way is no longer very captivating to her – occupies her for at most 10 minutes. This contraption also doubles as a balance bar so that she can practice standing on her own. Then there’s the playpen filled with stuffed animals. The pen is so filled, that you won’t find a bare spot to put her down on. Most of the animals are slimy or dried stiff from caked-on drool. But she doesn’t care; she’ll send each and every one of them straight to her mouth the second she gets her grubby paws on them.
After roughly 20 minutes in the pen, we switch her to the next station, the swing. Our swing moves forwards and backwards, which apparently is not the preferred direction for younglings. I’ve been told the side-to-side swings work wonders and are very effective at lulling babies into a deep trance (Thanks Christine!).
Bella doesn’t care much for her rudimentary swing. She fancies the human swing that mommy transforms into. This human swing can move in any direction, although up high and down low motions are preferable. We like to play a game where I toss her in the air and she gently lands on a pile of “puffed-up” down comforters. She loves this game and squeals with delight every time she lands on the soft bedding. Every time we prepare to play, I puff the blankets for maximum fluff and say, “puff it up, puff it up!” When she hears this, she giggles in anticipation of our game and pumps her arms in excitement. This station is probably her favorite, although the mommy swing is quite tired after a 20-minute session.
The next station is our most educational station. She may only be 7 months old, but our little Bella just may be the next child prodigy.
We like to call her Il Maestro:
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