On the Move...

I thought I would post some pictures of Brax's latest developments. To the other mommies, you can just skip this entry. If you've seen one baby crawl, pull up and stand, you've seen them all. However, for our out-of-town family who doesn't get to share in our day-in and day-out, this is a special milestone.
On Friday afternoon, I entered Brax's room to find this.... He figured out how to maneuver over the bumper pads and pull himself up on the side of the crib... My first thought was "how cute, I have to get the camera, this is one of those special moments that needs to be recorded for the rest of history." Fast forward five days to my current thoughts .... "Why can't this child stop pulling up on his crib and just TAKE A NAP already????" The past few months were wonderful. I just put him in his crib after a few minutes of rocking and he would settle himself into a sweet little sleep. Those days are gone! It's pull up... can't get down... scream endlessly until mommy comes and puts me on my back... pull up... can't get down... scream endlessly until mommy comes and puts me on my back... (repeat until so exhausted, he falls asleep during one of the cycles :) Just par for the course, right?










In addition, the little man has FINALLY learned to crawl. On Sunday, Josh rolled a bottle in front of him and he "accidentally" shuffled toward it. In the following days we had to tempt him with culinary treats to get him to shuffle toward us. First two or three shuffles- then two or three feet- in order to get the object of his affection (aren't we all motivated by food? :) Well, now he's taking off. I can't leave him alone for even 30 seconds. This morning I put him on the floor to play and walked into the kitchen to unload the dishwasher. What seemed like 15 seconds later I heard a BANG BANG BANG. I looked around the bar, only to find the following...


I guess the sound of the bar stool hitting the bar is even better than the sound of two coasters banging together. I'm not sure that the bar stool is the safest item for him to practice pulling up, but what do you do? I guess it's time for baby gates and outlet covers (which probably should have been done in the rolling and scooting phase, but we're a little slow here :)













I should also mention that once Brax pulls up on something, he likes to let go and stand by himself. I think that learning to crawl was only a means to an end- it gets him to a place where he can stand up. He let go this morning and stood long enough for me to grab the camera, turn it on, and snap these two pictures. He can stand alone from 5 seconds to 20 seconds. After chasing him around last night, Josh looked at me and said, "We wanted him to crawl, right? Why was that, again?" My sentiments exactly.