Crawling Just Under the Wire at 8 Month Mark

As you'll see, it didn't take long for the munchkin to start scooting around the floor. Excuse the bib, but he's very slobbery from teething again and he can soak an outfit in less than a half-hour without one.
Different measurement today. Instead of weighing myself without him, then with him, then doing the subtraction to get his weight, today I just sat him on our scale. Our scale measures up to every two-tenths (.0, .2, .4, .6, .8) He weighed 21.4 on our scale, which seems like only a small gain from last month, but this is all rough estimate anyway. We converted the two-tenths weight to ounces, then added a few for loose feet hanging off the scale and came up with 21 lbs, 10 ounces. With the measuring tape on the floor with him laying down he measured 31 inches.

Official Crawling: Drop and Drag

With video soon to come, Kole has officially done an act often enough, over a long enough distance, to where we are ready to proclaim it "crawling". For the past 4-6 weeks he has been involved in activity that has been close to crawling, very crawl-like, resembling a crawl or "worming" around ... but not enough of it done with purpose, repeatedly, until yesterday.
The method of choice that seems to be most effective can best be described as a paraplegic who has to drag himself to the things of his desire. Kole will get on both hands and knees, rock back and forth, dry-hump (see previous post) and make all sorts of appearances of forward motion, before finally belly-flopping on the floor, then using both hands to stretch outward then pull and worm the rest of his body forward. With surprisingly quick repetition, he can reload the hands outward, pull forward, over and over, until he's travelled a distance of less than 10 feet in a very short amount of time, his legs snaking uselessly behind him the whole way.
Video to come soon. Just curious if this is a quick transitional phase, or the crawl method of choice for the near future.

Not quite crawling

We have the camera at the ready at all times in hopes of catching the moment Kole decides to start crawling. We've already filled up a tape of false-alarms. Each episode becomes entertaining in its own way. But, what we got tonight we were not quite expecting. Watch for yourself.

Another play day

I've made mention, and previous posts, about Kathy's friends Beverly and Ellie, who she met in childbirth, infant care and breastfeeding classes offered by Arlington Memorial Hospital. Ellie and Beverly ended up having both their babies just before Kathy on June 15th and 16th. They've all kept in touch, calling or emailing, sharing each other's joys and frustrations with their little ones ever since. Today they got together at our house, where again it wasn't just a chance for the moms to get together, but a chance for the babies to interact with one another - and, out of our own curiosity, see how each kid has developed in relation to the others. Kole is obviously the string bean of the group. Beverly's girl Sarah was put in Kole's 'Jumperoo' thing, and her feet were 2 inches short of the ground. They had to put a phone book beneath her for her feet to push against something. Kole only has about an inch on Noah, the little one of Ellie. Kathy says both her friends were surprised at how Kole laughs. Both thier kids will smile and make loud coo sounds and shreiks. But, Kole will occassionally guffaw like an old man - a big, husky, prolonged chortle with big gasps for air. He's done that for quite a while, in fact.
It's not a matter of comparing Kole with other babies in the sense of - is he more advanced, bigger, better, more refined ... it's not like that. It's not vanity for our kid. I guess deep down it's a sense of ... are we helping him develop at a normal rate to his peers? Are we good parents? If he's behind on basic motor skills, is that a reflection on us and what we've done? I guess it seems more paranoid than anything, but we keep being told that it's normal. But, it is kind of cool to know that he's been laughing heartily way before most kids - a good early trait to brag about.
At any rate - here's some pics of today.
I'll also post a pic of Kole in his new big-boy seat. He now eats in a booster seat we have at our dining room table.
PHOTOS: On the left is Beverly with Sarah, then Kathy with Kole, and on the right is Ellie, the cheeky Brit, with Noah. Then the three little ones together. Then Kathy and Kole at the same dining room table I grew up with.