I’m watching my 9-month-old baby learn to crawl. Right now. As I type. She’s caught a second wind tonight and after some unsuccessful shushing and rocking I set her down for some bonus playtime. She is, in short, a girl on the move and fighting that tonight was just not a battle I was going to win. I’m OK with that, though, as watching an infant explore a new skill is one of life’s greatest joys.
We’ve been waiting on this milestone for awhile now. She’s been covering good ground for several weeks; sometimes we’d marvel at her movement and wonder exactly how she’d gotten from point A to point B. To date, it’s been her own sweet combination of skills that has gotten her to her chosen destination — a crazy combo of rolling, squirming, scooting and creeping. And now she’s added crawling to her repertoire.
Earlier tonight my 7-year-old daughter and I sat and just watched the baby do her thing — roll, squirm, scoot and creep. And, finally, crawl. No need for TV or YouTube tonight; the baby was entertainment enough. We laughed at her, encouraged her and dislodged her legs from under the couch. And, then, she just did it. She was up on her hands and knees, rocking as per usual. But instead of turning to her signature move (drop to the belly and roll, roll, roll), she stayed up. And then she moved her hands and legs…first one side, than the other. She crawled! We laughed and encouraged her some more.
As we watched it unfold, I was struck (yet again) by what a privilege it is to be a parent. To bear witness to a bright-eyed baby’s firsts — her first smiles, her first foods and, tonight, her first time crawling. Parenting is not all happy and lovely — there are tough, frustrating, painful, scary and downright hard moments. But, thankfully, those moments are interspersed with beautiful, inspiring and downright sweet moments. Like watching a baby crawl forward and, then, look up at you with an ear-to-ear grin and a proud expression that says, “Hey, did you see what I just did?”
I’m sure we’ll eventually have moments of annoyance as a result of the baby’s newfound mobility. No, I know we will. That first time she crawls over to her big sister’s prized possessions and demolishes them. The general “peskiness” of having an in-motion baby underfoot. The extra time it takes to wrangle a baby on the move. It’s a matter of when, not if, those not-so-cute moments will occur. For now, though, we’re not going to worry about that. We’re too enchanted with the power of movement and too in awe of the burgeoning skills of this sweet baby, with whom we’re completely smitten.
So tomorrow, when she crawls again, smiles to herself and looks up to see if we’re watching, big sister and I will smile back and give her a look that says, “I saw you, kid. And I’m so proud of you.”
