crawling and standing

my baby boy is now crawling. officially. for a few weeks (less than two, i guess) he was doing an army crawl where his little arms would drag the rest of his body along the wood floor and he'd only do it for something really enticing. i knew crawling was near, though, because he'd be up on his hands and knees just rocking, looking longingly at things just out of his reach.

then one day he got up on all fours - hands and feet. he started pushing himself up like that and suddenly felt more confident. after that, crawling was easy. he just started to move his hands forward and shuffled his little knees to catch up. at first he only crawled to something specific, like if i held out a remote or a pen. but in a day or so he figured out that he can crawl anywhere and grab anything and that's where we're at now :)

he crawls fast and while it still looks a little clumsy, he gets where he needs to go. i cannot leave him to play on a blanket anymore. he is starting to realize that when i leave the room he can either crawl toward me or somewhere else entirely and get into something new.

pair this crawling skill with his ability to pull up on almost anything and we're in big trouble. he now stands in his crib and we find him that way after naps and in the morning. he has gone from a baby stuck on his back to a crawling stander in a month and a half! he pulls up on people, furniture, and toys. i found him standing on his bumbo the other day and less than five minutes after that he had pulled a recently out of reach plant over (not onto himself). let the real baby proofing begin!

see those little eyes there? those are the ones that say "i'm going to crawl right off this bed. gravity schmavity."

and even though i have no idea how to manage a crawler, i love to watch him do it. his little butt wiggles and his exaggerated arm movements are adorable. i know he'll be an expert in no time and these early days of tipping over and getting stuck will be memories all too soon. and you know what else? my little baby is 9 months old today! that's another post (he has a well baby on monday), but today is the day.