Working on crawling
We are working to teach her to unlock her legs and push upwards with her butt, so she can get some leverage to practice crawling. She will usually start to cry after about 5 minutes of tummy time, so my experiment for this week has been to let her get a little frustrated and see what results. As I expected, the result has been progress; albeit slow, but progress nonetheless. When she gets frustrated, she does either three things: 1. Squirms around fussing and then relents to fall down on her tummy and give up 2. Squirms around fussing and finds a way to turn over onto her back 3. Squirms around fussing and pushes her butt upwards and knees underneath her body, allowing her to push her legs outward and move herself. Obviously #3 is what we’re looking for and we are slowly getting there.
I have spent much of this week giving Elise extra tummy time to encourage her to crawl. Now that she holds up her upper body so well, I figure we’ve got to get her legs up to speed. When I put her on her stomach, she immediately pushes up on her hands, elevates her shoulders and props up her head, yet in doing this she automatically curls her legs upward toward her back (acting like a see-saw).
We are working to teach her to unlock her legs and push upwards with her butt, so she can get some leverage to practice crawling. She will usually start to cry after about 5 minutes of tummy time, so my experiment for this week has been to let her get a little frustrated and see what results. As I expected, the result has been progress; albeit slow, but progress nonetheless. When she gets frustrated, she does either three things: 1. Squirms around fussing and then relents to fall down on her tummy and give up 2. Squirms around fussing and finds a way to turn over onto her back 3. Squirms around fussing and pushes her butt upwards and knees underneath her body, allowing her to push her legs outward and move herself. Obviously #3 is what we’re looking for and we are slowly getting there.
Another big thing we’ve noticed building over the past month is Elise’s separation anxiety. It started, a few weeks back, when all of a sudden she began to cry when Grandma came over to watch her. I always answer the door with Elise in my arms and then tell her, “Look who’s here, Grandma’s here” and pass her over. One week it just kicked in out of nowhere. Elise looked at me, then up at grandma, then back at me and proceeded to wrinkle up her nose, squint her eyes, push out and quiver her bottom lip and start to cry. Grandma was taken aback the first time and I couldn’t help but laugh, as her little sad face was just too precious!
Over the past few weeks, she has cried in the arms of just about every person (other than mom and dad) who hold her. It’s the same routine every time. She’s ok for about 30 seconds to a minute and then realizes she’s not with mom or dad and the tears start flowing. I laugh every time, because she makes the funniest face and her sad little lower lip is just adorable! I didn't realize she could have separation anxiety at such a young age. I’m sure it is just a phase. However, I plan to continue giving her exposure to new people and surroundings, so she will eventually get through her aptly known “stranger danger” phase.
Elise and the infamous lower lip
