Elliott’s on the move

It doesn't seem that long ago that Kelley and I were spending hours each day teaching Elliott how to roll over. We started teaching him that at about four months and was surprised how quickly he took to it. Was it graceful? No. But he was starting to do it more and more and realized quickly that being on his tummy was more fun than on his back. Eventually he was the roll-over king. The days of us leaving him on his play mat, looking up at his gazillion toys hanging down from that mat while we did our own thing were long, long gone. It was then we realized he was a quick learner and was an "on-the-go-baby."

At about six months, Elliott was already sitting up on his own. I remember the first time he sat upright by himself for about two minutes and how amazed and so very proud I was of my son. And of course, the learning curve of sitting up didn't take long at all. Soon, he was able to roll over, sit up on his own and thought he was hot stuff. It soon turned into a little game with him. He would roll over, sit up, fall down and repeat. He did this over and over and over again.

Early in the seventh month, Elliott started to slowly crawl. We were shocked. Prior to him taking his first "crawl" I would hover over him, teaching him how to crawl by moving his arms and legs in the proper crawling motion. And one day, he rolled over, sat up and crawled across the living room. He fell often at first, but he was able to pick it up rather quickly. When he finally got his balance under his arms and legs, his crawling was certainly a sight to see. At one point, in the middle of a crawl, he was stick one of his legs out and instead of using his foot, he used his knee to help him scamper across the room.

Today, Elliott is a crawling machine. He's super fast, and loves it. And now that he is on the move, Kelley and I are always taking Elliott places. We don't ever want to keep him couped up in the house. One of the things Kelley and I used to do pre-Elliott was walk around the mall. I know, it sounds cheesy, but for us, it was something we could to relax, especially during the holidays. When Kelley was pregnant, each time we passed the children's play area in the mall, she would often say how fun it will be to bring Elliott here and let him run wild. Way back then, it seemed like an eternity away.

Now 10 months old, we started bringing Elliott to the play area last month, and just as he has with every new challenge in his young life, he took to it right away. Scurrying from the frog, the ladybug, the boat and the tree log you can crawl through, which is his favorite, as evident by the video below. So now, each Saturday morning, Kelley and I take Elliott to the mall to let him run wild in the play area before the stores in the mall open. We found that other parents are doing the same thing, and we realized it gives Elliott interaction with other children his age and older. He loves following other kids from one end to the other. Always smiling, laughing and making his "da-da-da" sounds, Kelley and I just sit back and realize just how lucky we are to have such an active and happy baby.

So, as Elliott has mastered the roll-over, sit up and crawl, we realized that now it's only a matter of time before Elliott is walking and on the run.

Did I mention that he has already started taking steps on his own ...