At last!! Crawling!!

Well today is certainly a day that will go down in the history of our family as one to remember ... After many, many, many weeks (months!) Elliott crawled! Sure, he's been mobile for some time now (bottom shuffling mostly) but just hasn't been able to get it together to actually crawl and get to where he wants to be. Everyone said "Don't wish for it because it'll be more hard work once he can move about" - but we still wanted him to because he wanted to so badly, and it's one of those special milestones that we didn't want him to miss.

It all started this morning when he was chasing a tub of moisturiser - it got away from him. So he crawled after it! Just like that! Not clumsy crawling, falling about and eventually getting it - real, proper all-fours-in-coordination crawling! As if he'd been doing it for ages! There was no inkling he could do it yesterday! He got the tub and then sat back as if nothing unusual had happened. I don't think he realised what he'd done! After that it seemed that whenever he thought about it he couldn't do it. But by the afternoon he had it down pat and is now crawling everywhere! He even throws in a few new moves now and then, such as stepping with a foot instead of a knee and half crawling, half walking.

What a day. We know now just how much we have to do to baby-proof the house even more ... always leave the back door pulled shut, need more latches for the cupboard doors, the wine needs a new home, the mixing bowls need to be put up higher, the drinks need a new spot off the floor ... but we don't care. We're just so proud that Elliott has finally learnt how to crawl.



So, for the record, here are the top 10 tricks Elliott has up his sleeve...
1. CRAWLING!
2. Walking (assisted)
3. Standing (1 hand assisted)
4. Pulling himself up onto things
5. Waving (both hands)
6. Clapping (own hands and other people's)
7. Biting! (with his 5 teeth!)
8. Pretending to be an American Indian (hand over mouth - "Wa, Wa, Wa, Wa...")
9. Feeding himself some things (sometimes) - cheese sticks, toast, sandwiches.
10. Bouncing on his bottom