For a few weeks now, Caroline has been wanting desperately to be on the move. She’s figured out how to pull herself up, how to get into a seated position, how to pivot her body in the direction she wants to go, and how to walk with assistance… but none of these things were achieving forward motion. Her goal is to stand and walk. She gets up on her hands and feet, and it’s very obvious that she is trying to figure out how to stand up so she can walk. If she was successful at standing (while in the middle of the floor), she would simply topple over at this point, however- as she is far too wobbly to walk without holding our hands. She has been frustrated through her process of trying to work this out.
Finally, she got her knees moving. I knew it would happen- I would blink, and she’d be on the move. It happened! I had been watching her closely and giving her lots of time alone to practice. She always practices more when Mama is not in the room. As soon as I enter, she whines and wants me to help her. So, I hide in the kitchen and watch her from a distance. Well, a couple of days ago, she crawled. Just like that, she went from one side of the living room to the other.
We were all surprised- even the dog who gave a bit of a growl to the baby that was coming straight at her! I literally walk around the house now telling the dogs to “watch out”, and asking them “Where’s Caroline?”, so they can get used to this new phase. I want to make sure they don’t get too surprised and have Caroline sneak up on them!
I am in love with this stage! Everyone told me to “count my blessings” that she wasn’t crawling yet, because my life would flip upside down. I knew this would be true, but I didn’t care. I was excited for Caroline to have a little independence and for her to be able to explore. She is doing just that. She is now able to see something and go over to it in order to inspect it. I love that I am getting to see a side to her that I have never seen before.
She is so much less frustrated now, which also makes Mama happy! She doesn’t have to try and get her point across to me; she can just go and do something without me. And the highlight of it all is that sometimes she crawls to me! She wants Mama and can show me that. She can crawl right over to me or follow me where I go. She is just starting to follow me when I ask her to, and it is amazing. She still has a different goal in mind- walking. She’ll stop crawling for a bit, and again gets up on her hands and feet (butt high in the air) just trying to stand. She’ll get there soon. I have a feeling she isn’t going to be crawling for long!
The day after she started crawling, she also started saying Mama. She used to say “ma” and, while she meant it, we were still working on saying “Ma-ma”. Well, she has it! She calls out to me and says it perfectly. It is the best feeling in the world to hear your daughter say Mama, and to have her be able to crawl over to you and give YOU attention. Such an amazing phase, and I am so glad that it is here!