Almost crawling . . .

It's really amazing just how much stuff a baby can find to get into. John's just over 9 months old, and he's pretty good at crawling with his tummy on the floor. He sure gets around. I've been trying to baby-proof, but there are just so many things that I just don't know what to do with. For example, all the stuff for the cat. There's a scratching post, a cat house, and all the toys that look like SO much fun for a baby. What can I do? There's no room to move it all to a different room, and even if I did, the toys would find their way back, and Oscar would start scratching things he's not supposed to in the living room. Or the living room garbage can. If it wasn't there, I'd be cleaning up a pile of garbage from the table every day. Sigh.

But at the same time, it's really exciting, and you feel so happy for him because he's able to go where he wants, when he wants (with obvious exceptions, of course). The freedom and accomplishment he must feel . . . wow. I love seeing the look of absolute delight on his face when he finds something new and makes discoveries. My friend Carley didn't want me to help her daughter learn to crawl because of all the trouble she could get into (and believe me, I understand that part of it now), but every day that goes by, sometime new and exciting happens, and it makes the 8 months without sleep seem almost worth it. ;)