Baby Austin is SO close to crawling. He's sitting without support and he can go from laying down to sitting all by himself. Imagine the look on our faces when we went to get him after a nap and he was SITTING in his crib. Sheer terror. That's what our faces projected! It's the sitting to crawling that sometimes trips him up (he can't quite get over one of his bent legs), but when he gets to all fours you can see the determination in his eyes. Sometimes I'll be watching him with crazy anticipation--thinking "is this going to be it?" in my head while I anxiously wait for his legs or arms to nudge forward. He sees my expression and thinks something is wrong! So I clap it off and he's back to his smiling, determined self. If he sees you clap, he knows all is well.
So far he can prop himself up on all fours, key into a toy across the floor, add a slight wiggle and usually one limb will move before he gently melts into the floor. Occasionally he might face plant, but most times his legs just give out. Before long, he's up and at it again and the cycle continues.
Because he can't crawl to the nearest toy, Austin loves to reach for the next best thing. This includes my hair and earrings (OUCH!). Even when he's on the changing table, he'll swing his legs up, reach for his feet and stick them in his mouth. Yes, you read that correctly. Socks on, socks off... it doesn't matter. Sometimes he'll make a "yuck" face after he tastes said feet (usually the "yuck" face accompanies the bare feet). So he's pretty flexible.
So far he can prop himself up on all fours, key into a toy across the floor, add a slight wiggle and usually one limb will move before he gently melts into the floor. Occasionally he might face plant, but most times his legs just give out. Before long, he's up and at it again and the cycle continues.
Because he can't crawl to the nearest toy, Austin loves to reach for the next best thing. This includes my hair and earrings (OUCH!). Even when he's on the changing table, he'll swing his legs up, reach for his feet and stick them in his mouth. Yes, you read that correctly. Socks on, socks off... it doesn't matter. Sometimes he'll make a "yuck" face after he tastes said feet (usually the "yuck" face accompanies the bare feet). So he's pretty flexible.
The general mobility that he's developed--in what seems like an overnight sensation--is exciting and scary at the same time. A few months back, we could leave him in the middle of the living room on a blanket to run and make a quick bottle, but now, we come back with the bottle and he's log rolled all the way across the room and nearly into the wall. Sometimes he will log roll in a circle--this of course is achieved by a mix of the straight log roll and his hoisting himself up into a crawling position. When he comes out of the crawling position he lands at an angle, thus creating more of a circle.
The downfall of Austin's new-found mobility? Changing his diaper. This somewhat simple task that once took a mere two minutes has become a 15-minute wrestling match, and I usually lose. He flips over almost as soon as his head hits the pad (or he tries eating his feet) so my job in even taking off the old diaper is quite the challenge. I will not even try to explain what it's like to get the new one on. And if we have to change clothes in the same sitting? Next to impossible. If Jim is home, I usually call him for backup. He'll entertain the kiddo while I take care of business. HA!
He is definitely gaining strength standing too. This is no doubt a success of the Baby Einstein "saucer" and "jump-a-roo" apparatus that occupy most of our living room :) We are still stabilizing him under his arms, but his legs are tough. I believe we've previously referred to them as "linebacker thighs!" Standing on the changing table is actually one of the tricks I try to use to calm him down. He seems to like staring at the giraffe painting on the wall and even tries to grab it.
On the eating front, we've moved into stage two solid foods and two different grains! Oatmeal and fruit in the morning with multi-grain and vegetables in the evening. He's still taking bottles of course, but my goodness how the solid foods help bring down the grocery bill from 100% formula. We've also introduced Gerber puffs and it didn't take long before he figured out how to feed them to himself. It's funny to watch Austin react to adults eating too--he could have just finished a feeding, but watching others eat with their own utensils and cups is like torture! My personal favorite is when he tries to steel my coffee in the morning and I say, "Sorry babe, you have to wait 15 more years until you can drink this!"
Before we go, there are a few exciting milestones to mention.
1. Last month on Austin's 8-month milestone, I realized it had been exactly 34 weeks and 6 days since he was born. That's exactly how long he waited before showing up on August 29th. And by "waited" I do imply sarcasm :) So naturally, we had to create a bit of photo fun.
The image on the left was taken 8/24/11 (five days before Austin's birthday). It's the last--well, the biggest--pregnancy photo I have. The image on the right was taken 4/29/12. I didn't think of this until now, but he's not even the same weight as what I gained during pregnancy. And to be honest, my back hurts worse now than it did then! Wow. But I'm not complaining. I would be complaining, however, if my cheeks and feet were still that swollen. I think it's funny how he automatically grabbed his feet when I held him for the picture on the right--it's similar to how he was camped out in the belly. So crazy to see the before and after like this!
2. Tuesday is the 9-month milestone! We have another doctor's visit and probably more shots that afternoon. Thanks to Uncle Benn who tried to take some formal 9-month photos of Austin this weekend. Unfortunately nap time became more of a priority than smiling. We'll have to try again ;)
That's all for now. We WILL have a crawler by the next blog post!
Before we go, there are a few exciting milestones to mention.
1. Last month on Austin's 8-month milestone, I realized it had been exactly 34 weeks and 6 days since he was born. That's exactly how long he waited before showing up on August 29th. And by "waited" I do imply sarcasm :) So naturally, we had to create a bit of photo fun.
The image on the left was taken 8/24/11 (five days before Austin's birthday). It's the last--well, the biggest--pregnancy photo I have. The image on the right was taken 4/29/12. I didn't think of this until now, but he's not even the same weight as what I gained during pregnancy. And to be honest, my back hurts worse now than it did then! Wow. But I'm not complaining. I would be complaining, however, if my cheeks and feet were still that swollen. I think it's funny how he automatically grabbed his feet when I held him for the picture on the right--it's similar to how he was camped out in the belly. So crazy to see the before and after like this!
2. Tuesday is the 9-month milestone! We have another doctor's visit and probably more shots that afternoon. Thanks to Uncle Benn who tried to take some formal 9-month photos of Austin this weekend. Unfortunately nap time became more of a priority than smiling. We'll have to try again ;)
That's all for now. We WILL have a crawler by the next blog post!
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