by: Emma Aguirre
At eight and a half months old, we are finally on the move! My daughter has been teasing us with crawling for a few weeks now, but since we have hard wood floors she hadn’t quite got the hang of things yet. Then we came to California this week where my parents have carpet and she was OFF. She’s even beginning to pick up speed and you can see the expression change on her face when she realizes she started in one spot and ended up in another. Complete confusion mostly (but because she is with the grandparents it’s pretty much a standing ovation every time). I’m excited for her, and it’s so adorable to see this diaper-padded butt wriggling across the floor with such determination. A tiny, teeny part of me is a bit sad though, as well as a bit nervous and I’m ever so slightly filled with dread.
It feels like yesterday I was thinking about what all these milestones would be like. Well, here they are and hitting me way too quickly. While selfishly it makes me sad that my baby is growing up quickly, I know that when she comes to find me, she really wants to be with me. She could be off exploring the living room, but when she wriggles toward me and climbs on to me, it’s because she wants to and not because I’m making her snuggle. I’m nervous for her because in the grand scheme of things, this is just the beginning of her independence. It’s literally the first step, and from here on out she’ll be doing things on her own – walking, going to school, graduating, college….the list goes on and I feel slightly overprotective and neurotic when I actually verbalize it.
Dread because I know our lives are about to change. Again. We’re going to have to plug all the outlets and lock the cabinet doors. I have no idea what else is involved in this process, although friends keep threatening to leave their two year olds with me just to help find all the nooks and crannies we will never think of. Who knows what she will find!
Thankfully, my daughter’s crawling doesn’t seem to have disrupted the rest of her life too much. We’ve already had to lower the crib twice in a month though as she’s about to hurl herself out of it. She’s pretty strong on her legs. Her sleeping is still great, maybe slightly off due to the California time change. I had read that when infants reach these milestones, sleeping is often the first thing to be disrupted. My little one just seems to take it in her stride.
Next stop? Teeth, hopefully!
