Month 5- She's On The MOVE!

We Have A Busy Little Bug!

Since she entered month four, I've been recognizing that crawling was imminent. Now that she is five months old, I almost can't believe she hasn't conquered it yet. She has all the mechanics down; using many of my favorite yoga poses! I mean, if you can picture it, she's got the plank and downward dog mastered, followed by a short intermission of falling on her face. Her next move is typically the cobra pose and a knee up here and there. The matter of putting them all together is somewhat of an obstacle for her. 

Meanwhile, she takes the path of least resistance, and simply scoots her way around. She is already into everything! The other day, as I was editing photos, I observed her as she set her mind to getting to her clothes basket. She made her way over there, reached up, pulled it down and proceeded to start grabbing a fist full of laundry out of it. So, getting up for the umptheenth time, I went over, removed her from the area and proceeded to edit photos. Moments later, there she was.... inching her way back to the clothes basket. I was about to get irritated when out of nowhere appeared the cat. If you are not aware of this, I will let you in on a little secret about our tiny tot- she has an absolute fascination for the cat and dog, but especially the cat. I have my theories on this; particularly the fact that Neko is nimble and scarce, therefore mysterious and exciting.

....Anyway, the cat! She had seemingly appeared out of nowhere into Naomi's field of view. Naomi instantly forgot about the basket with a huge smile sweeping across her face as she recognized the stealth figure. Her focus was automatically redirected to the cat, and she began to shimmy her way towards the poor creature. Of course, as always the cat was able to escape with ample time but that's not always the case. Unfortunately for Neko, Naomi has the occasional help of her parents so that she can have a chance to "pet" the kitty. At this point, we are still working on "nice touches", as she typically grabs a fist full of whiskers or ear and proceeds to "sample" or taste it, as with anything else these days. The scenario is always the same. We let her have a chance to touch the cat, she gets way too intimate and then it's time for damage control; one of us ends up profusely apologizing to the cat whilst the other is unloading half a box of baby wipes on the hands and face to rid the baby of cat fur. 

So, as you may have guessed, her hand-eye coordination is also improving remarkably as time goes on. She is not only able to use such talents on the cat, but now is holding her own bottle. We will introduce it to her, and with it tipped, she is able to reach up, direct it down and hold it independently. It's ironic how much this 'baby step' helps us get so much more done. 

These new changes are all a blessing and a curse. It's so exciting to see her developing and exploring, but it's definitely bitter-sweet to lose some of the innocence with every new progression. This semi-crawling business is quite literally a mixed bag of emotions for me. Her 'new found freedom' means me either finding clever ways to contain her while I do my work (photo editing, paintings, housework, cooking dinner, etc.), or become constrained by my infant. 
              ... and yet, you can find me encouraging her to 'take the next step'. Just the other morning I spent a couple of hours trying to teach and entice her to connect the dots and just go ahead and CRAWL! Every other part of me says "No! I'm not ready".... but there's that small, but extremely proud and nurturing part of me that wants to see that girl reach for the sky. I have no doubt that month six will bring you some new and exciting revelations into Naomi's world, as each month does. See you next month!