And She's Off!!!

As you probably know, Christine and I have been taking Erin to physical therapy for her torticollis. Erin's therapist, Elva, mentioned that being on her belly would help to strengthen her neck, and since then we've been watching our little princess squirm around, trying to crawl.

Then one day Elva put Erin on her belly, and helped coordinate her legs as she tried to crawl. Erin screamed bloody murder the entire time, and was jerky and unsteady, but she crawled.

And our entire life changed.

We can no longer do many of the things we used to, such as put Erin on the bed while we change clothes, or set her on the sofa while we grab the phone. We've also been busy baby-proofing the house. All of the tall furniture is now strapped to the walls. All of the electrical sockets have plugs in them. The kitchen cabinets now have baby locks, much to the frustration of the adults in the house. Even the refrigerator has a lock on it.

Erin is now very impressed with her new trick, and takes every opportunity to show it off. She even crawls in her sleep some nights, bumping her head on the crib. The first few days, Erin's knees were rubbed raw from the carpet, but we started putting pants on her, regardless of the weather.

She's getting more mobile by the day, and apparently her success at mobility is spurring her on to greater achievements: This weekend, she pulled herself upright in her play pen, and proudly stood there for a few seconds before 'barn dooring' back down to the mat. She has an elephant toy attached to the handle of her baby carrier that giggles and vibrates when you tug on it (no jokes, please); today in the car, for the very first time, she pulled it hard enough to set it off.

Just when we get used to some stability in our life, Erin surprises us again with a new development. Given that she's almost standing, and starting to get a sense of what she wants, we're probably in for some turbulence in the future.