A Word From Mom - Crawling

Each day, Jack does something new and exciting and it blows us away. Sometimes we think we can follow "the manual" and watch our baby progress through life, just as the chapters tell us he will (and usually, this works out perfectly). Then other times, we find that he does what he wants and only when he's ready. No practicing or warming up first... For instance - rolling from back-to-front. We tried and tried to "teach" him...countless hours on the floor with him, coaxing, cheering (also pulling in other resources, like tid-bits from Aunt Amy)- but in the end, one day he just decided it was time and we found him rolling all over the living room. Same with drinking from his sippy cup... he just chewed on it and played with it for a month or so, then one day he grabbed it and started chugging! Even laughing and smiling (I can't tell you how many cumulative hours we've spent trying get him to smile and then laugh). In the end, he just decided one day that he was ready, and then he ran with it.

So as far as crawling is concerned... this task is a tough one, but, he'll do it when he's ready (or maybe he'll skip this all together), and that's that. Worst part is - "the manual" doesn't rate this task as a milestone of any kind and Marc and I are very much goal-orriented people (we like to follow "the manual" through life checking things off as we go). Will he crawl soon? Only Jack knows... but for now, we're just going to have to watch him "scoot" across the floor to get around, which he does well. :)

Other new milestones - he started saying "da da" (more like "da da da da da" - so no, he's not choosing to say "dad" over "mom" as his first word). He's also using his pincer grab (using two fingers to pick things up) and has become quite precise with this. He pulls himself up, but only in the bathtub (real safe) and with certain big toys that he can wrap his arms around. He has even taken one step on his own, while holding on to the coffee table. And of course all of the other "manual" goals that should have been hit by 7 months.

By the way...still waiting on teeth too, but I'm sure he'll get them when he's ready. :)