And She's Off

For about two weeks leading up to Christmas, Ava was flirting with the idea of crawling. She would scoot occasionally, and we kept waiting for crawling to officially occur. The day before we left to visit my family in Black Mountain, she not only started crawling but she crawled from one side of the room to the other. She really took off.

Ava crawling on Christmas Day at The Francis' house.

Now, if you put her on the floor, she is gone. She's fast. It really makes such a difference. For months I've been able to leave her on the floor and go into the next room for a second to grab a drink or something, while keeping a constant eye on her of course. I had a rude awakening the first time I tried to do that after she started crawling well. In a matter of minutes she was all the way across the room about to play with a bunch of inviting computer cords. Which brings me to my next thought -- this house is so not baby-proof. We haven't had to think about it much until now. I mean, we have most of our electrical outlets covered and all that, but there are so many little nooks and crannies that babies and toddlers try to get into and you just don't think about it until they are in the middle of opening the bathroom cabinet and reaching for the Clorox.

In other related news, she also likes to stand while holding on to things but hasn't mastered the art of standing alone yet. I know she was technically a toddler the day she turned 1, but I am holding on to her baby status until she walks.