It comes with the territory

I think I inherited the worry gene from my Dad. Or maybe that is just an excuse I use to explain my bad habit. Anyway, I was already calling the pediatrician when Aubrey wasn't crawling at 7 and a half months. "Is this okay? She doesn't even really roll that much and hates being on her tummy. Not once has she tried to get up on her knees!" Their response, try to get her to play on her tummy and if she still isn't crawling at her nine month checkup you can discuss it with the doctor. In other words they were rolling their eyes and mouthing "first-time mom" to the other receptionist. Still not crawling at 9 months. The doctor wasn't worried at all. Her muscle tone is fine, she just isn't motivated. "Well," I say, "when should I start worrying?" (as if I hadn't been for 2 months already) "If she isn't walking by 18 months," was the reply. What? I have to go through 9 more months of this, what if something is wrong with my baby gut-wrenching fear before you will do anything about it? Time went by and she started to love assisted walking more than anything and I finally resigned myself to the idea that maybe she wouldn't be a crawler, but maybe go right to walking. Then a bit over 10 months while we were on a weekend getaway at a friend's vacation house she scooched forward to get a snack that was about a foot out of reach. Then she did it again. You could almost see the little light bulb go off inside her head. Bill and I were baiting her with food all over the living room as she developed the funniest wounded soldier looking one leg dragging army crawl. A few hours later she got up to her knees for the first time. The next day she started crawling on all fours.

That was on Sunday. Now there is no stopping the girl. She crawls very proficiently and pulls up to standing. She walks holding our hands or her walker toy and will actually let go and stand alone for up to 30 seconds. Her new favorite thing is climbing over me while I am lying on the floor (a great game to play when you are tired and your baby is not). It amazes me that she is figuring this stuff out so quickly. She just had to do it all in her own time.

Now I can stop worrying about her not crawling and focus on keeping her out of trouble. Wait...what age are they supposed to be taking their first steps? I had better call the doctor!