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The trick that made Oliver crawl

Last night Oliver gave Auntie Cri the gift best ever, just in time before she left to Italy this morning… he started crawling! I mean, really crawling! He had been lifting himself up on all fours for a while, doing his launching movement and moving forward like a worm—placing his hands on the floor, lifting his bum in the air in a perfect downward dog and then launching forward—literally—with the whole body. Quite funny to watch!

Last night was no different. We were playing on the carpet as every night (so much for my rule of not being on the floor in his pjs ;-), he went in his all-four position, but this time, he just started putting one knee before the other, balancing, one hand before the other, balancing, and so on… and he crawled! Just like that. I wasn’t expecting a “Hey, look at me, I’m about to do something new”!, but at least a sort of progression. No, he just crawled.

What helped him

Maybe the time had come, or it might have been coincidence or maybe he had planned it all along as a farewell gift to Auntie Cri. We’ll never know. But I’m pretty sure what we did the day before helped greatly.

On Wednesday we went to our “psicomotricidad” (psychomotor activity) class in Centro Asunción y Pilar (scroll up for a cute picture)—unfortunately we manage to go there only once a month, but every time Oliver learns something new that we then practice at home. Last time, as Oliver desperately wanted to sit and there was no stopping him, we learnt a great exercise to strengthen his back. Shortly after that, Oliver could sit up straight, mastering his balance.

This time, the lovely Pilar made a crawling circuit for the babies—they had to go around the column, climb on the ramp and come down feet first. Oliver managed to do the whole thing twice in his worm-y crawling style, but every time he went on his feet raising his bum in the air—in a downward dog position—Pilar placed a hand on his bum, gently pushed it down so his knees were on the floor again and then shook him slowly back and forth, singing a song that neither my sister nor I could remember once we got home (but I’m sure it helped!). She then let him try again and corrected him each time. I did the same on the second round and my sister kept doing it the whole afternoon. And last night, Oliver crawled. Coincidence?

Thanks Pilar, can’t wait to be back next time and show you how well we’re crawling now!

Scroll up to see pictures of my crawling monkey! And a new chapter begins…

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