The Climb*

We all look forward to the mobility of our babies growing up. The very first being, the crawl, whichever way they choose to. There are many different kinds of the first crawl. There's the push-up crawl (the baby has his hands and feet on the ground and his bum up in the air), the creep crawl, the belly crawl (also known as the commando crawl), the classic crawl (baby alternates arms and legs, getting the arm on one side to hit the floor at the same time as the leg on the opposite side), the bear crawl (baby walks on all fours, arms and legs unbent), the crab crawl (baby pushes with arms instead of pulls -- which has the unintended, and frustrating, consequence of sending baby backward), the leapfrog crawl (baby makes a bridge with her arms and legs and then thrusts forward), The roll (some babies get so good at rolling that it becomes their primary way to get around). Whatever strange type of crawl your baby has, it's normal so don't sweat it if they look like inch worms or spiderman!

Oh, by the way, there is a great effort going on by Seventh Generation called The Million Baby Crawl. Why are they crawling, you ask? Well, did you know that since 1976, the US Environmental Protection Agency has required safety testing on ONLY 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals on the market? We need a stronger chemical law to keep our family safe and healthy!! Lend your name to the cause and help babies everywhere grow up in healthier environments by demanding toxic chemical policy reform from Congress! Say NO to Toxins and Join the Crawl! Okay there was Amelie's little soapbox speech...

On a more personal crawling note, Amelie started off doing the army crawl. I hoped that she would someday realize she has knees and continue on to do the classic crawl but she's caught up in a mish-mash of all the different crawls together but has adapted her knees into her technique which I'm so proud of her for doing. Go Amelie-poo! As you all know from her first crawling debut video, she loves her Graduates Fruit Puffs and Happy Baby Puffs. Due to popular demand, I'm posting her debut video so you can compare that one with her current mish-mash crawl. She's finally due for a treat. Enjoy!

Debut Crawl*

Amelie's Determination Crawl* from Shirlpearl on Vimeo.

The Climb*

Amelie's Climb* from Shirlpearl on Vimeo.