Hayden has been getting all geared up to crawl. She has been rocking back and forth on her hands and knees, belly wiggling, soldier scootching, and inch worming toward things. Bryan and I have been waiting with great excitement and trepidation. (You have to agree that while crawling signals greater independence, it also brings more work for Mom and Dad!) Bryan has gotten all the plugs covered and is preparing to put baby locks on some of the cabinets. We are as prepared as we can get.So it has happened gradually over several days. I thought she would discover this faster mode of travel and take off like a rocket thus forcing me to constantly chase after her, but alas how foolish of me. She has proven that the apple falls as close to the tree as possible...she currently adheres to the crawling philosophy that the effort must be greatly rewarded and will only be attempted if all other whining and cajoling has failed. I can't imaging where she learned this.
The remote control, telephone and camera will all get her crawling. What things are off limits at our house? The remote control, telephone and camera. Of course. Have I shamelessly used these things as "bait" to try to get video of her crawling? Of course. Is she now completely confused and our discipline plan in shambles? Probably.
As for the whining and cajoling...you will see for yourself on the video. It often plays like this: gaze at the bait, gaze at Mom; whine; gaze back at Mom to see if she has gone to get the bait, Mom hasn't moved so Hayden crawls a few inches; stops, acts exhausted, whines, gazes back at Mom to see if she has gotten on the ball and gone to get the bait, no luck; resigned, Hayden crawls just far enough to lay down on her stomach, stretch out and grab the bait with the tips of her fingers. Whew, she is now exhausted!
I realize that all this will soon change as she gets stronger and learns to enjoy the independence more. The chasing her around the whole house will soon be a reality and I will have to be even more on gaurd. You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I can probably put away the electronic bait. Soon there will be a Christmas tree, lights, presents, tissue paper, bows, ribbon...
