Eli Crawls!!!

Yesterday, after spending the afternoon rearranging the house to set up our Xmas Tree and put out our other decorations (including presents already wrapped & under the tree - we're getting much better about shopping earlier!), we decided to celebrate our holiday success with a glass of wine and some holiday themed movies (including 2 Xmas episodes of Futurama, 3 Xmas episodes of Friends and The Labyrinth).

As we were lounging in our newly festive living room, I put my wine down on the floor to grab one of Eli's toys so that I could bring it over to him, and before I knew it the little guy was on his tummy, pushing up with his arms and slowly crawling across the room towards my glass. Now, Eli has been pushing up with his arms and rocking onto his knees for some time. He's even gotten to be pretty handy at pushing himself backwards from his tummy into a sitting position (which we were also VERY excited about). But with all of his aptitude and movement, he had up until now only been able to move in reverse. It was fun in Vicksburg with Nise & Jay because they have hardwood floors, so you put Eli in some socks & sweats and let him loose, and he's slip-sliding across the house like nobody's business - just in reverse.

It was the very first time that he had been able to move forward, and you could see in his eyes how surprised he was. Taryn and I were so happy to have been there to see it (together!). So of course we both dropped onto the floor, cleared extra space and started doing everything we could to entice him to do it again. It didn't take much. We figured out pretty quickly that the glass of wine was the motivation. So we put it out in front of him, and voila!, Biddles in overdrive. He crawled 4 more times that night before getting too tired to continue. Then it was PJ's and bed. But Taryn & I poured another glass and stayed up to celebrate.

I guess Eli didn't crawl once at Day Care today, but as soon as we all got home earlier this evening, we cleared space on the floor of the living room and started playing. And he was ready to go. It seems he's already got the hang of it. He's moving slowly, trying real hard to get his arms underneath him where & when he needs them. And he's both stepping with his knees and frog hopping. But he's doin it Baby!

Go Team Biddles!