Crawling is so last week, Mommy.

[thanate]

Me: Who are you, and what did you do with my nice, quiet, happy baby?
Megatherium: WHY AM I NOT STANDING UP?!? WHY DID I FALL DOWN?!? THERE IS A CAT!!! WHY CAN'T I EAT THE CAT?!?

I think we may be in for a loud few days. Crawling is fun and all, but up is where it's at, and oh the crankiness when these things don't work out. Also, increased mobility makes for increased ability to clonk oneself painfully in the head. And it turns out that when you bruise your forehead and then run face-first into your mother's legs, that hurts too. Who knew?

(We are trying not to reward her for crying by scooping her up to cuddle every time she bumps something or gets frustrated. Parenting is hard, too.)

Comments

[cheshiretiffy.livejournal.com]

"(We are trying not to reward her for crying by scooping her up to cuddle every time she bumps something or gets frustrated. Parenting is hard, too.)"
We did the same with Dommy and he's learned to handle minor ows very well.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I imagine that the additional mobility also keeps you busier!

And, yes, parenting is hard, too. (But so worth it, yes?)

[heuchera.livejournal.com]

Cats must appear universally tasty to babies. I hope the clonking frequency decreases soon. Matthew seems to be getting better at avoiding the really painful ones.

[dragonvyxn.livejournal.com]

Interesting... I went the other route and did pick mine up to stop the crying quicker, and it hasn't resulted in more crying at all. i suspect that might be a bit of a myth or potentially different between temperaments of babies?

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

My nephew tended to chase the cat with his tummy (shirt up, belly out). I can only assume this was to maximize the chances of soft-cat-on-tummy before she bolted.

Good luck with the cranky bonk-times!

[thanate.livejournal.com]

If she's legitimately hurt herself, then sure-- most of the noise right now is frustration rather than injury; she wants me to hold her/lift her up/sit on the floor so she can use me to stand up with and I would prefer she not cry every time I put her down or go to get myself more tea.

I think the parental behavior problem is more the people who rush in going "oh, is itta-boo hurt? Poor baby!" any time the child falls over instead of letting the child determine if it's hurt or not first.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Are you guys in full-on crawling mode at this point?

We seem to have tailed off on the actual bruising after about three days or so, and it was really all from trying to stand up. She's not quite to self-supporting yet, but has much better coordination and maybe the beginnings of field awareness. I suspect we're in for another round once she figures out that there's also a standing-based form of locomotion.

[heuchera.livejournal.com]

He is not cross-crawling yet, but he sure doesn't stay where you put him either. He does a push/pull thing with legs and arms, and kind of moves by belly-flopping across the floor. He can almost get himself to a sitting position from the crawling position, but not quite. His favorite thing right now is to push himself up on his toy piano - lights, music, and semi-verticality all in one! Also trying vigorously to climb people and furniture.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Nice. We were gifted with a "Magic Mozart" cube which served some of the same purpose for a bit, tho I'm going to have to find a screw driver & replace the batteries before the lack of intonation drives me batty.

We went from locomotion by rolling to a sort of inch-wormy crawl that came together with the ability to sit up, followed by real crawling after about a week. (And we thought she didn't stay where we put her *before*...) People are preferred for standing up/climbing on, but I think that's partly availability.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

One of my archaeology co-workers talked about telling his daughter, "oh, it's just the head." in an unconcerned sort of voice every time she bumped it. Apparently she completely stopped crying about hitting her head quite young.

[heuchera.livejournal.com]

We've made it to real crawling, and pulling up (or trying to) on EVERYTHING. The cats are having to run away faster now. This morning he got his first real goose egg trying to climb the step to the kitchen from the den, and hitting the wall or piano, I'm not sure which. Poor sweetie. :(

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Whee-- um, congratulations? The wall & jeans-leg supported standing is quite the thing here, which has lead to a few painful mishaps but also some learning to catch herself. After evaluating our edges & stairs for safety we picked up one of the baby bumper car things so that she can be upright without falling over & I can use the oven without worrying about poor timing on uses of the mommy-targeting system. We have not gotten to stairs yet (thank goodness) though she continues her obsession with trying to crawl through the bottom of the coffee table and only getting part-way.

Loki is having approach-avoidance conflicts: this is a tiny human, with whom the other humans hang out on the floor. Also, she has hands, so she might pet me? But there are also grabby fingers and drool... And she's developing a bad habit of flopping over on top of him because pushing up off a sitting cat looks like it might be half-way to standing!!

Oh, also of note, I finally picked up a mei-tai after being inspired by your example, and find it very convenient for quick use. Not as good at shelter from the sun/cold, but I can stick her in & type or use two hands to make tea, which is kind of awesome. (She's still a little too small for the ergo we have, though I'm sure its day will come.)

[heuchera.livejournal.com]

This morning he also discovered the higher drawer pulls on the dresser. He was fingering them in wonder, and then looking at me like, "Mommy, it is MADE for pulling up! Look, there are handles! For ME!" Sigh.

Glad the mei tai is working for you. I am still terrified to try a back carry with it on my own (did it once in a baby-wearing meeting with help), so may look for an easier option for the back though I'm not sure what that would be. All back carries terrify me.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised we haven't had a drawer pull moment yet.

The advice I've heard on back carries is to hang out somewhere soft & practice sitting down. Have not tried this, as I do not feel that making my hair more accessible is a bonus.