November 12th 2020

Everett began crawling at about 8.5 months and it was my happiest day! It has been so fun to watch him learn to love and expand this new ability.

There are two instances I specifically cherish from this milestone. 

One was the first time he crawled from room to room. It was about a week after his first crawl, and he was in his bedroom and I was two rooms down the hall. He left his room to go to another room to play, but then he turned around and saw me doing my hair in the bathroom, and he quickly stomped his little hands and knees over to where I was. And I rejoiced very much inside!

The other instance I recorded on the day it happened...

"This morning was such a dream; I just wanted to cry little soft tears of joy.

I tip-toed around the perfect moment as if to not disturb it.

I’ve never been a person extremely drawn to the infant stage, I’ve always loved and looked forward to having a toddler, though. I assume this is because my personality is driven by activities and projects which you can have a toddler “participate” in.

I feel like my baby turned a little towards toddlerhood this week when he started crawling. I can “send him on missions” to crawl across the floor to find a delicious piece of food. He is much happier to play on the floor by himself because he can go to get what he wants. That has done my heart so much good since for the last 8 months I have tried so hard to relax and be present with him and put aside my household duties when he just needed to cuddle or play.

But this morning I got to be present with him in a very different way. 

I got my egg noodle dough out of the fridge that had been waiting on me to roll it out all week. I set my little guy down with some things on the floor on the other side of the countertop bar. 

The whole time I was working with my noddles he babbled in the sweetest, happiest, soft little voice. I melted. I had to keep poking my head around the counter to soak it all in. 😭

All that said, I have of course come to love the infant stage after having my own. So if he reverted back to that and quit the cute babbling play, I would love him just as much. But I have no reserves to openly preferring this stage over the infant stage. 😅" 

-October 19th

So here we are a little over a month later ;) I realized, once again that I needed to get out my camera to capture this sweet stage. ;)

He loves to crawl to my knees and push up on them to get right in my face... and this is the common face of the little happy guy who has successfully invaded his momma's space bubble! 😄

We got a "tiny cup" from EzPz, and I have not regretted the $10 purchase!

It's a 2 ounce silicone cup that is weighted perfectly for them to pick up on their own, and the inside is shaped in a way to help the flow of water be more even and not all at once! 😂

I DREADED this stage of having to spoon feed him. But it's not quite nearly as bad as I expected because we totally skipped the traditional pureed foods that get everywhere and require exclusive spoon-feeding. Everett and I both prefer when I have food that he can pick up with his fingers on his own! :)

-MarLeahJoy