8 months and counting...

Teo has decided to celebrate his 8th month by learning to crawl. Last Tuesday I put him down on a mattress we have on the floor of the basement for jumping and for wrestling (we often play Luke & Matteo vs. Mama SMACKDOWN on it). He wasn't happy about being put down, but I sat him in the middle and crouched down next to the mattress and beckoned him with encouraging words and enthusiastic gestures. He determinedly planted his hands down, and... crawled! Forwards and everything. I was all excited and returned him to the middle so he would do it again. But having already traversed that path, he flat-out refused. Like, wrathful-screeching refused. I decided to spare him the indignity.

And since then he's been getting around on his own motor. I can tell it's been empowering for him, evidenced by his beatific grin when he gets where he's going. And every day, he gets a little bit faster. Interestingly, he crawls the same way Luke did--the odd step-shuffle with one foot flat on the floor and the other knee down. I'm wondering if our hardwood floors caused them both to learn to crawl that way to ease pressure on the knees. Or maybe when Josi told Luke to model crawling for him a couple of weeks ago and Luke reverted to his old step-shuffle, Teo was actually paying attention.

And if that wasn't enough of a milestone, on Wednesday, he pulled himself up to a stand at the wooden play-kitchen we have in the (real) kitchen! He kind of gasp-laughed as he held onto the play-stove knobs to steady himself. He stood that way for a good three minutes, until his laugh morphed into a gasp-cry. Evidently, a formidable undertaking such as standing upright quickly exhausted his initial zeal.

Luke has been really on the ball when it comes to Teo's safety. I explained to Luke that now that Teo is moving around, we need to really watch out for unsafe toys or objects that he comes in contact with. Accordingly, Luke is at the ready whence Teo is within a few feet of an outlet or a power cord or a Lego. Yesterday at the park Luke noticed Teo was about to ingest a piece of bark. Luke called out, "Teo, no!" and when we complimented him on his vigilance he breezily replied, "Well, that's my job."