Really crawling!

It was a big weekend for Jolly - he figured out how to crawl. Previous attempts had resulted in only some forward lurching and determined creeping, but he has now mastered hands-and-knees forward motion. I'm particularly impressed that he can do it on the hardwood floors, which are more slippery than the carpet for cloth-clad knees. He can reliably transition between sitting, hands and knees, and on his stomach. He also pulled himself up to a standing position on the ottoman, and held it for a couple of seconds.

On a related note, we did some babyproofing this weekend - replacing worn electrical outlets with new, safer ones, then adding the outlet covers because although the new outlets are supposedly protected against anything other than a 2-pronged plug being inserted, seeing Jolly poke at them without any covers makes us too nervous. We moved potentially dangerous things out of low cupboards and put the trash under the sink so it doesn't look so tempting. I had been a bit freaked out by the prospect of babyproofing earlier this week after the doctor told me we should really get on that, since it seems impossible to take care of everything, but as Guinevere pointed out we're really not leaving him alone anywhere but in his crib. The crib also underwent the transition from high-bottomed infant crib for easy baby access to low-bottomed baby cage that Jolly can't climb out of.

Our very distractible baby has been having increased problems focusing on breastfeeding. While he devours hand-held foods with enthusiasm, lying down and looking only at my chest to nurse is met with much resistance unless it is first thing in the morning or he is *very* hungry. Yesterday was particularly bad as he cried and flailed every time I tried to feed him for most of the day. Not even going to a quiet, boring room seemed to help. I am thinking that we will probably not be breastfeeding much past a year at this rate, but we still need to get him to eat his main nutrient source for the next 3 months at least. This morning I tried a new position in which Jolly sits up right next to me facing the opposite direction, so he can lean in to nurse without lying down. He still does a lot of suck-detach-suck-detach-look at the cat-suck etc., but it seems to work better.