Motor Skills and Other Developments

This has been a big month for Leah in terms of her motor skills.

She can almost crawl.  She will either pull through to her hands and knees from a seated position, or she'll push up from her tummy.  As she is pulling through to her hands and knees, she's move her hands forward in the crawling motion, but once she gets her knees in position, she feezes.  And then rocks back and forth and starts to scooch backwards.  She can't yet figure out to move her knees forward.  And until she masters the crawl, she can get almost anywhere she wants to go with a combination of rolling and shifting across the floor. 

She is able to stand with assistance.

"Okay, how am I going to do this?"

"Dad ... any suggestions?"

"Ahhh, look at meeeeeee!"

 

Leah has also learned how to push herself up to a seated position from the floor.  This is a really cool skill for her during playtime, but it is a bit frustrating during nap time.  Yesterday I heard a lot of fussing coming from her crib.  I went into her room and found her sitting up in her crib, whining, and rubbing her eyes.  I picked her up and she instantly dropped her head to my shoulder and fell asleep.  Poor baby, she couldn't figure out how to lay back down after she pushed herself up!  Haha - it was simultaneously adorable and funny.

Leah sitting up in her crib after nap time.

She has started eating cereal puffs by picking up the little pieces between her thumb and forefinger.  She gets really fussing at dinner time, but those puffs will instantly calm her down.  Maybe she's too busy focusing on getting them in her mouth to remember to fuss about it.  BA gets really nervous about this activity and won't let her eat them without him watching her like a hawk, because he's worried about her choking.  I'm a little more relaxed about the puffs because we recently discovered that she's been stealing puffs from her friends seated next to her at daycare for weeks.  Little rascal.

And we're trying to get her to use a sippy cup, but she just thinks it's another chew-toy.  I thought she was beginning to show an interest in books this week (up until now she's only interested in eating her books) and I got mildly excited when she went for a book and attempted to open a page.  It was short lived excitement though, because when she couldn't get the page open she went right back to eating it.  C'est la vie.