The Law of Inertia

Newton's first law of motion is The Law of Inertia,

"A body persists its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force."

Noah has been set into motion, and he won't stop. NOAH IS CRAWLING! It is a mix between the army crawl (pulling himself forward using just his elbows and forearms) and a regular crawl on his hands and knees. He alternates between dragging his feet and using them and getting up on his knees in between. He gets around pretty well and is increasing in speed everyday.

Once Noah mastered the art of rolling around to get what he wanted, the small steps to crawling were quick to follow. In a matter of 3 weeks he worked hard every day to build up his strength and coordination despite all my begging and pleading to wait until we moved into the new house. Ok, I admit, between my constant pleads to hold off on the crawling, I was joining in with Jason and encouraging the actual crawling. It is hard not to get excited when your little baby is learning something new and reaching another milestone!

The end of January was marked by Noah rolling all over the house! His favorite place to roll, was under the swing. Noah would spend 30-45 minutes under there playing with the tags, swinging the swing with his feet and taking his toys under there. On Jan 25th, he then started to push up onto his hands and was scooting backwards...which really made him mad! He was going for a toy and would end up farther away from it. Poor guy!

For the next 2 weeks he would get up on his hands or get up on his knees and toes...but only one at a time, not together. On Feb. 11th Noah got up on his hands and knees, but most often got onto his elbows and knees. He was too busy chewing on his fingers or holding a toy most of the time. But, his elbows, rather than his hands, worked just fine. By the 14th, Noah was up on all fours rocking back and forth all day long! The 16th was the first time he actually moved one knee forward and then his hands before falling down. The process though got him 3-4 inches closer to his goal.

"His goal," let me elaborate. What motivates Noah to crawl? The remote control and a mini pink exercise ball his Grammy was so gracious to give up. (thanks Grammy!)Noah loooooooves his pink ball. It is super soft and not inflated all the way so he can get a good grip on it with one hand. So funny to watch him play with it. He swings it around, smacks it, lies on his back with the ball wedged between his feet so he can beat it like a drum, and now, he chases it around the house. Just as soon as he manages to crawl over to where it is, Noah gets so excited and ends up knocking it away and out of reach...so he chases after it. This process usually continues until he a) traps it next to some object so it can't roll away, or b) get distracted by some other toy he happens across while trying to get to the ball.





The "other toy" that he usually comes across usually isn't actually toy, but rather a lamp cord, a crumb on the floor, the cable to my lap top, or some other object he really shouldn't be playing with! Why is it, that despite the fact that Noah has 3 bajillion toys scattered all over the living room, he still manages to find an object to play with that is totally inappropriate?! I think it's part of the "kid code." Our apartment is definitely not crawling kid friendly, hence the reason I was begging for him to wait 'till our move to get movin'.

One of his favorite places to crawl into though is the base, underneath his exersaucer! He only makes it about halfway under, before getting high centered on the rim. He lies under there, smacking the bottom, reaching up through the seat and bumping his head the whole time. This usually goes on for about 5 minutes before he gets frustrated, or hits his head a bit to hard and wants out. Of course, he is stuck and can't get out. So, he starts waving his arms kicking his legs, letting out some grunts and giving into tears until I come to the rescue. Then, Noah usually ends up back under the excersaucer within 5 minutes of me freeing him! Silly Baby!

Well, we are playing a-whole-nother ball game now that Little Mr. is mobile and by the looks of things, it is only going to get more and more interesting. Since Noah has mastered forward, backward and sideways motion, he won't stop moving in general. Untill sleep completely takes him over, he is wiggling, kicking, and squirming.

Literally! While I am holding him, he diggs his feet into my hip and tries to climb over my shoulder or launch away from me. While I am sitting next to him, he his climbing and rolling all over me. While I am trying to put him to sleep, Noah starts by kicking his feet and trying to roll around. As he starts to give in a little bit, just his feet keep moving and his arms flail around, and he usually lands a few good smacks on my chest or my face. Eventually only his ties and his fingers are wiggling, and he jamms his cute little fingers in my mouth! The fingers are usually the last to stop moving before he finally falls asleep. And jsut as soon as his big blue eyes pop open, you bet your a*# Noah is up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth with a big 'ol grin.

Again,
"A body persists its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force."