Tuesday 8 June 2010

Crawling is beneath her





She'll be 11 months in 10 days and she still shows no desire to get on all fours and crawl. The Frenchman and I have both demonstrated at separate times how the whole crawling thing works. Eloise laughed hysterically at the sight of her parents on the floor, moving around like animals. Ha Ha! She said. Look at the big people degrading themselves so happily.

We will occasionally get a backwards crawl. She lies on her stomach, does a quick glance backwards to make sure she's lined up to where she wants to be next and pushes herself back with her little hands.


More often though she is sitting up, and with one foot and one hand she scoots her diapered bottom around the room. This is fine with us. If any of you have sprained an ankle, you probably know the butt scootch* well, and so you will know that it is not a rapid means of transportation.


This means we've been able to go this long as parents without having to chase after our baby. We can see the danger coming miles away and slowly move her away from the wires/sockets/basket of knives. Ah the power of distraction. I want to chew on those cables! Oh look! A sock!

I'm afraid though that babies crawl before walking for a reason - mainly to ease the parents into having a mobile baby. First they roll - ok, no more plopping you on the middle of the bed. Then they shuffle around - see above. Then they crawl - stair gates up and locks on cabinets. Then they cruise - ok, anything remotely entertaining for an adult must now be put into storage or onto much higher shelves. Then they walk - best to remove all shelves and furniture with sharp corners or better yet just pack up and move into a play gym.


I had a dream last night that she was walking. I was clapping and jumping for joy at my clever little girl. When I woke I was panicked. This house and our sanity are so not ready for three upright and mobile humans. If it were up to me Eloise would be butt scootching all the way to college.



*Scooch? Scoot?

6 comments:

  1. I think she'll just get up in a pair of high heels one day and saunter off like Marilyn in Some Like It Hot..".it's like jello on springs"

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  2. She'll get there! Our niece never crawled - just butt scooched (or however you spell that!) until she walked at 16 months.

    My daughter is on the verge of walking and I often long for her less mobile days!

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  3. My son walked at 9 1/2 months, I was so NOT ready for that. Same day husband came home with a cast and strict orders to not put any weight on it for at least 12 weeks, Carter took his first step and it was all over from there.
    Enjoy the scoot :0)

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  4. Evie didn't crawl until after she could walk, and then she hardly ever did it.
    She rolled everywhere until about 14months . Enjoy the peace while you can, she'll be into everything soon enough.

    Anyway, how can you possibly expect her to learn to crawl on a slippery wooden floor :P
    Jess xx

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  5. it really doesn't matter whether she is scooching, crawling, or walking as long as she keeps wearing those pants with the black and white ruffles at the cuffs!

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  6. I want to reach through the computer, pick up Eloise, and squeeze her. She is so cute, I could eat up those cheeks! There's no need to crawl, when you can scoot in style. She's got style.

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