May 3, 2007

Elliot started pulling himself up in his crib yesterday - i knew it was coming, as he's been trying to for weeks now. but yesterday was his first "all by myself" time. (YAY ELLIOT!!!)

but, now he won't stop and this is making naps and middle of the night nursings tricky. we used to be able to put him down, drowsy but not asleep, and he might cry for a second or crawl around a bit, and then go to sleep. but now, he goes into a full roar and pulls himself up to standing and rattles the bars of the crib. he's certainly not going to put himself to sleep like this!

so i've gone back to rocking him or nursing him back to full sleep before putting him down. i know babies wake up to practice new abilities, and i'm hoping that's all this is. and that it will subside once the novelty wears off. but i'm worried that i'm wrecking his sleep habits by putting him down already asleep. (he seems to wake up sooner and more frequently if i put him down asleep. if he puts himself to sleep, i guess he's not so freaked out when he wakes up and i'm no longer rocking or nursing him and he just goes back to sleep on his own.)

but still.... a great developmental milestone for E-man!

He's been creeping around on his belly and also getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth for a month now. A few days ago, he crawled a few paces (without knowing it) because he was trying to catch Melon. This afternoon, he did the same thing, only trying to get another baby. Then, later on, he crawled across our living room floor! But that time, he had a look of triumph on his face. He knew what he was doing, but i don't think it was absolutely clear how he was doing it.

The baby-proofing begins in earnest now. Yikes!