The Accelerator

One of my friends jokes that we put Liftoff Boy in an accelerater. We didn't, but man is he moving along with things. First thing, he's got these superstrong, thick, tree-trunk legs (they come from me), which means he was able to support his weight on his legs at 2 months. Even the pediatrician remarked on it - usually it's 4 month thing. Because of the legs, his crawling development has been different - normally babies pull themselves by their arms until their legs get strong enough to pick up the slack. With LB, the arms had to get strong enough to partner the legs. So now he's crawling like a pro, about two months ahead of schedule, and he's figuring out that if he holds onto things, like the cushions on the couch, he can balance himself enough to remain standing. He loves holding onto someone's hands and walking around the room too.

Yesterday Liftoff Guy's mom and I took LB to the mall (malls are a blessing when it's 0 degrees outside and taking a child outdoors would be really dangerous) where he rode his first merry-go-round animal (a frog - I was holding him tight) and he got to play in the big playground thing they have set up. It looks like a forest scene with lots of rocks and tree stumps and animals, but everything is this soft rubbery plastic and the ground is foam. LB was entranced watching all of these bigger kids run around him and climb over mushrooms and such... Eventually he started to try to pull himself to standing, but the little mushrooms he had chosen didn't let him get vertical (I bet no one else has ever written that sentence!). Still, as an only child he doesn't see many other kids and when he sees what they can do, I think it makes him even more driven.

I've been watching him lately, and he makes me want to sing that old Matthew Wilder song "Never Gonna Break my Stride". I apparently walked by 10 months and I think LB will be able to do it before then. It's weird to be proud of something and dread it at the same time...