your thirty-sixth week

You had been working on your technique for a while now.

But you finally had it.

You were crawling.

No more dragging yourself around the floor like a commando.

You had worked out that one knee in front of the other

was a much more effective way of getting around.

And life as we knew it was over! 

Suddenly you were everywhere.

And you could creep up on us

because you were so stealthy.

You had discovered the pots and pans 

that lived under the butchers block in the kitchen.

They made really fun drums.

You had discovered the baskets where the crisps lived.

They made fantastic, rustling toys.

And if we left the stair gate open for even a second,

you would aim for it

and at lightening speed you would be swinging it against the lounge door.

You were certainly keep us on our toes.

You could clearly anticipate when certain things were going to happen.

And it didn't seem like it would be long 

before you were putting your arms up to be lifted.

This was a milestone that Mummy was really looking forward to.

You would already make a dive for her if other people were holding you.

Or you would crawl over to her and starting pulling at her if you wanted a cuddle.

But we looked forward to the day that you would lift you arms up to show us what you wanted.

You seemed to be so nearly there.

Mummy would clap her hands before she picked you up,

to tell you it was coming,

and you would go stiff and smile and move your arms out ready.

You were also starting to look like you might pull up to standing soon.

You liked to pull yourself up onto your knees,

particularly using your highchair leg

or in the bath.

But you hadn't quite worked out 

how to move your feet to tuck under you so that you could stand.

And in a funny sort of way,

we hoped you didn't work it out too quickly.

Because the next step would be walking.

And excited as we were that you were growing up and learning new things,

you still seemed like a little baby to us.

  

But with all the new skills you were acquiring

it definitely seemed time to lower your cot down to the furthest level.

You always moved around so much in your cot

that we were pretty sure that you'd work out how to pull up for the first time 

while you were in there.

We couldn't stop you from learning these things,

and we wouldn't want to.

But we did want to keep you safe.

And protect you from harm.

Luckily you seemed to be made of pretty tough stuff.

You would fall over and instead of crying

you would laugh about it

and then get back up to try again.

You were a really funny, brave, silly, amazing little monkey.