Julie's Boggle

Having just finished re-adjusting all baby-proofing for the extended arm-reach that sitting next to things gave him, I came into the lounge one morning, a day or two after he had started crawling, and found Jon kneeling at the coffee table. Oh dear.

The besieged items on the coffee table retreated further into their shrinking zone of safety.

Since then, kneeling is all the rage. It is done at every possible opportunity, and dragging on parental trousers to get into position is a big favourite.

Unfortunately, Jon has also discovered other things that can be used as hand holds.

Like cupboard handles.

And the amazing thing about that, is that with the right combination of pulling and dragging down, cupboards can be Opened to reveal all sorts of Fascinating New Toys!

Cue the start of the search for handy widgets that stop our lovely kitchen cupboards being opened for baby curiosity.

Kneeling unsupported is still at a very early stage. And a wobbly, look-Ma-no-hands posture has been known to turn into an uncomfortable tumble forward or backward, often followed by some wailing if the surface that meets his head is not a soft one. (The poor little guy is currently sporting a dark bruise on his cheek as the result of one of of yesterday’s spills into a hard edge.)

It’s hard to predict whether standing will evolve naturally from kneeling, but it’s a dead certainty that walking will follow standing. I think at that time, the coffee table’s functionality will be restricted to after-Jon’s-bedtime hours.

In the meantime, I just think it’s great that our little guy has come so far on this wonderful, often painful, adventure of figuring out how it all works.

And I’m really glad that he gave us a whole year off first!

We’ve been watching Jon experiment with various forms of locomotion for a long time now. Back in May he was fully into rolling. He also became very good at shuffling himself backwards which led to all sorts of interesting scenarios where he got himself stuck under our sofa, under the dining room chairs, under other people’s sofas, etc.

Finally he worked out a shambling version of leopard-crawl which was very useful for getting him out of these tight spots. So we’ve been watching with interest to see what would evolve next in this complicated, self-taught study of physical control.

We’d seen Jon trying out various things that involved getting his pelvis off the ground, but each time it all collapsed again and it was back to leopard crawling.

I’m guessing that there was a lot of muscle toning and tuning continually going on, because one day, he tried again and it just worked. Suddenly he had himself properly on all fours and all the limb coordination came together, and that was it! Crawling at last. *warm parental glow*

For a few days we had occasional lurches back into leopard-crawl, but soon this was well behind him, and now the confident slap or thud of little palms on the floor coming up from behind is a brilliant indicator that young Jon is on the move.

(I have a great video of him crawling that first day. Slipping into a partial leopard-crawl and then back again, tongue out in concentration. It’s here if you want to see it. And if your media player won’t play it, I’d recommend trying the free VLC player.)

The month after he turned one was a busy time for our young Jonathan — he spent it learning all sorts of new and fun things he could do with the wondrous body he’s been given!

For quite a few months we’d seen him moving all over the flat – more on that later. But once he was on the floor and moving around, that was it. He was on the floor until we sat him up again.

Then one day, he suddenly figured out how he could get back to sitting again all by himself!

In Jon’s case, he did it the first time by means of a sneaky trick: reversing, on his front, into a corner and just keep going. That first step quickly evolved into reversing towards any solid surface, and then a day or two later, he was doing it in the middle of the floor. Gosh.

I’m sure the advantages of this minor milestone will not be immediately apparent to those of you who have long forgotten what it is like to be floor-bound and very short. But being able to sit up is a Big step for someone trying to get through Muscle and Limb Coordination 101.

For example, in the above picture, from his sitting position (as opposed to lying on the floor) Jon can both see into, and reach, the groove in the back door’s frame that seems to trap a variety of garden debris. And what do you do when you find this sort of thing? Well, if you’re Jonathan, you are naturally curious as to what it tastes like and whether it’s any good to eat. (His powers of discernment are not strong in this area! )

It has also opened up the exciting possibilities of sitting very cosily next to the large crate we have protecting the hi-fi. Not a place any sane parent would naturally sit their baby. Especially when it would mean that the baby could now reach the hi-fi over the top of said crate!

And he needs to learn that he’s never going to fall asleep sitting up in bed!

But all that aside, it really is great to see Jon’s little baby-form sitting up so straight and playing so beautifully by himself.

And this simply because he was able to both find his toys AND sit up again, without any help from Mum or Dad at all! Some progress is just wonderful.