Turning pages, sitting in crib, and reports of scooting

So it seems my baby lives to prove me wrong. I thought that wasn't supposed to start until high school. First there was taking him to the doctor at 8 months and saying that he was only rolling in one direction and having the kid roll forward and then backward on the doc's table 45 seconds later.

Now it appears he may have been practicing scooting forward on his belly while no one was watching. Terry swears he saw him do it this morning. "Scooting? forward? not rolling?" I ask. He swears it was so. I've yet to see it, and rolling still seems the preferred method of locomotion.

Two other firsts happened this morning. I was reading him "Brown Bear" board book just before his morning nap. And as I was getting ready to turn a page, I would put my finger behind the page. When I did that, he would lean over and try to peek behind the page, then he would grab it with his hand and turn it. At first I thought it was just an accident, but with each and every page, as soon as I picked the next page off the stack of other pages, he'd reach out, grab it, and turn it from right to left. He never tried to turn the pages in the other direction, which seems like an indication that it isn't accidental, but a learned behavior. I was so excited about Brown Bear that I got out Pajama Time to see if he would do it again. Sure enough, the kid's a page turner!

(I am filing this behavior away in my brain next to "faucet turner" in "things that should keep you from worrying your kid is cognitively delayed" for the next time I'm tempted to go off the deep end of worry for my little guy).

After his story I put him in his crib to try to get a nap in and was cleaning up in the kitchen while Terry got ready for work. Liam had been quiet for a while, so I asked Terry to peek in on him and see if he was asleep. After a pause, Terry said, "Come here, you have to see this." I put my head into the room, and what do I see? Our kid has pulled himself up to a sitting position in the crib! He is happily holding onto the rail of his crib, with his little feet sticking out the slats. I lower my face down to his and smile at him. He gives me a gummy smile back and happily starts chewing on the rail.

Him pulling up to sitting by himself is exciting because it is a sign that he is learning to better manipulate his environment to help him get around. But it is really really going to suck for our backs. Because the safety guides say that when they can pull themselves to seated you have to lower the crib mattress so they don't fall out. That means we are going to be hauling 25lbs of baby fat from much farther down.

I might have to get one of those thick brown leather weight-lifter belts that the studly guys at the gym use.