Julia is quite mobile now. She has crawled into every room of the house now of her own desire and effort.  Emily never knew this much freedom when she was Julia’s age because of baby gates. It appears to be time to put them back up. The two and half year-old Emily will not like the baby gates when they go back up.

Julia’s version of crawling is to mimic a marine crawl. She first learned the arm motions and would crawl based on pulling herself along the ground. Then she learned the leg and hip motions that accompany the crawl. With this crawl I see her peeking around large pieces of furniture as she tries to see what she is missing out on and where the people are. It is really sweet. Who knows if she will ever pull herself up on her knees and crawl in the traditional sense, but this is pretty cute.

As far as what comes next . . . I really haven’t seen her show any interest in pulling up. She is likely to sit up on her own if on a soft surface, but is too busy going somewhere on hard surfaces she hasn’t shown interest yet. She seems to be taking life easy so far. I pretty happy that she is moving slowly. I will miss all this crawling and cute ‘I’m following you’ looks she gives.

Things have been changing this week at our house. Emily moved into her big girl bed, which at this point is her crib transitioned to a day bed. Emily helped Robby to transfer it over and enjoyed some playtime under the bed. Her first nap was not much of a nap, but it did give Robby an hour and half break from her being under foot. Her first night had the drama of her rolling out of the bed once. We were ready for that possibilty with a bank of pillows to pad her fall. She was upset from the fall, but wasn’t hurt. She managed to stay in her bed the second night just fine. I will miss the freedom of knowing she is in a safe place while I am doing chores, but she can’t stay in the crib forever.

Julia is changing every day. She intereacts with the world so much more. You can read such delight and desire on her face. If you are holding something that she wants she tries her hardest to get it. Things in Emily’s hands are really intersting. She will move across the floor to get to what she wants or just to be near Emily. Today, I was watching her floor movement and can report that she is officially crawling. She had been rolling and pulling herself places with her forarms, but today I saw the knee bend and foot kick that propells her forward. She is so delighted with herself. When I was watching her, she crawled about a foot then turned on her side to me and waved at me. It was like she was saying, “Hi Mommy, see my new trick.”

(8 months) Emily is crawling pretty efficiently now. She looks around and lets something catch her attention and then heads off in that direction. Sometimes it is a toy, sometimes a piece of furniture, and sometimes a parent. She has crawled under a few pieces of furniture so far. We have figured out how to ‘bank’ other things by the furniture to discourage her from getting stuck under it. Emily will crawl into tight situations and then not know how to get out. Everyday she seems to be moving faster than the day before.