Yesterday Tristan and I went for a walk around the park (which we won’t have after the later part of the summer) with the intention of having us plant it in the middle on a beach blanket and just hang out. We ran into another fellow parkgoing mommy and baby and spent some time chatting for a while. Her baby was a bit older, at 14 months, and was walking around like babies tend to when walking is all novel. I put Tristan on the beach blanket and he managed to take a couple of “steps” crawling!
About this crawling thing here.. Tristan has been trying since just before he was 6 months old to crawl and for the most part isn’t getting it. He has the form correct, but something just collapses before he can move that final crawling paw into the right position. I’m not looking for suggestions unless someone has something technique-wise that absotively works – we figure the kid will become mobile soon no matter which method he chooses. We’ve made a lot more progress on his standing than his crawling lately, and he actually seems a bit more interested in the standing. This is probably because he’s not been struggling to learn to stand for the past two months. I am confused as to the crawling difficulties, since this child has the infamous Puntypaws – or, in English, he has some fuckin’ strong legs that he likes to use a LOT. And he loves to play while on his tummy, but he gets so pissed off when he tries yet again to crawl and it gives him trouble.
I’ve got Tristan’s bathing suit ready to go, but where do you get “plastic waterproof pants” that a lot of people seem to talk about? I have swim diapers, a bathing suit, and a lifejacket (we might skip the lifejacket until Tristan shows interest in me not holding him in the pool). We were about to take our first trip to the pool yesterday, but Tristan wanted his nap early instead (also read as: Tristan was fussy for no good reason so I finally put him down and he passed out).
Right now, and during the mornings for a few weeks, we’ve been putting him in the jumper while we eat breakfast and starting his reading video. He still loves the video enough to be happy viewing it every day, and we’re getting close to the point where we should see some results. Actually, he has “said” the word “hi” when seeing the word on the screen, but I only caught him once and he might’ve been just anticipating the voice saying “hi” a moment later.
The most fun thing about Tristan is that he’s developing his sense of humor and playing with us. When he’s in a good mood, he loves to be tickled and otherwise made to giggle. He also likes putting his mouth on various body parts of mine, such as my thumb while I’m holding him up to stand. When I say “Heeeeey!” he often looks up and grins.
As far as talking goes, I’ve heard him say “hi” and “heeeeeey” (the former while we greet him after a nap or if someone is greeting him, the latter while playing the sucking game). These are fairly primitive sounding, but he’s done the “hi” thing in front of enough people that I’m sure he’s trying to say it. I’m sure he has no idea what the hell he’s saying other than parroting… well, he’s almost 8 months old, he might mean it! Or he might not. But it’s fun and I’m sure that if he keeps trying, it will turn into definite speech soon enough.