Tuesday afternoon had to have been one of my most exciting moments as a parent thus far. No, our son has not started reciting Shakespeare or doing the tango across the living room with an imaginary partner, but he has started crawling on his hands and knees. He still moves faster on his belly using his perfected commando crawl, but his latest endeavor is improving the speed of crawling and attempting to stand. So what exactly happened? Well, I got home late Tuesday afternoon, just a little after my wife did, and I walked in to see our son slithering his way towards me. As he usually does now when he is done on the floor, he well make his way directly in front of you and flail his arms and legs to signal he wants to be picked up. Well, as I hadn't seen him all day, I swooped him up in my arms and gave him a big kiss. My wife still had to bring in things from the car so I watched him while she took care of her stuff. When she left the house, I promptly put our son back on the floor because he was getting fidgety. After placing him on the floor, I got onto my hands and knees and tried racing him to the living room from the kitchen. Well, I got there first and turned around and saw him watching me. As soon as I stopped and turned, he looked down and put one knee forward, then the opposite hand. He paused for a second, then moved his other knee forward and then the opposite hand. It was very slow at first and only lasted a few feet before he transitioned into the commando crawl to pick up speed. Upon getting closer, however, he went back up to his hands and knees and crawled a few more feet. It was truly amazing to see, almost as if he finally figured out by watching me the correct way in which to move his knees and hands to create forward movement.
Unfortunately, my wife did not get to see his first crawling experience as she was outside and I couldn't exactly leave our son on the floor to go get her. Our son did manage to eek out enough energy to put on a short show for my wife after she came in. And the crawling wasn't just a one time fluke, he continued the efforts yesterday when I was home with him and is slowly picking up speed. I have a feeling that standing and walking are not far off at this point and I will explain why. Even during the process of learning how to crawl on his hands and knees, our son has also worked on walking his feet forward with his hands on the floor and butt in the air. It almost looks as if he is doing infant yoga (downward dog for the enthusiasts out there). He will even do variations of it, lifting one leg in the air, leaving himself in a tripod position for a few moments or sometimes lifting a hand while keeping his feet and other hand firmly on the ground. All this being said, his balance is improving quite rapidly. Yesterday, according to my wife, our son walked his feet really close to his hands in a crouching position. From there, he decided to straighten his legs (standing forward bend). At that point, one might think that he would be done and go back to the floor, but not our son. Instead, he tried lifting one hand a little, testing his balance and maybe, just maybe, trying to stand up. His efforts did not last that long however and he quickly retreated to the safety of the floor. Needless to say, our son is an ambitious little munchkin and loves to push the limits already.
So as our son is pushing 8 months, not quite there but past that halfway point, he continues to amaze us. Whether its his incessant curiosity with the world around him or his adorable laugh that he breaks out quite frequently, I couldn't be happier. It is a little funny in a way to watch shyness start creeping in. Even amongst people he has seen before, he has taken to looking at them, studying their features, and then burying his head in either my wife's or my chest. It is just so adorable. He has come to love his fruits, not so much the vegetable as of yet (except sweet potatoes) and is eager to eat three times a day. The solids can be tricky, however, as he got constipated over this past weekend and try as he might, just couldn't get the poop out. So, in an effort to help things along, we fed him prunes and boy did they work. Luckily, neither my wife or I had to deal with the repercussions of the prunes. Monday, it was my wife's mother who had to deal with the poop. Monday wasn't that bad, however, but Tuesday was a different story. He was at his daycare on Tuesday and the report we got directly from the lady said that his poop was incredibly extensive and got everywhere. Lucky for us, not so lucky for her. On the plus side, he did enjoy the prunes which we mixed with peaches for him so at least we know a sure fire remedy for the future. What I am really excited, and maybe a little nervous about, is our camping this weekend. It will be our son's first camping experience (in tents mind you) and we shall see very soon how it all goes. Till tomorrow, live today for what it is and kiss your children if you have them.
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