Open Thread: The Long Hard Crawl

by Eric Martin

My time flies.  Last month, his 8th, he started crawling.  Now he's like a little marathoner - of crawl.  And, naturally, his instinct is to make a b-line for whatever it is he shouldn't be going near.  He used to be such a good baby:

But then, nothing makes him happier than breaking the rules.

But mostly he's just very earnest.  I'm not sure what he's thinking about most of the time, but boy does he mean it.

Comments

[jonnybutter]

boy does he mean it.

Chip off the old block. *Super* cute, Eric.

[McKinneyTexas]

his instinct is to make a b-line for whatever it is he shouldn't be going near. He used to be such a good baby

Just wait, it gets better and better. And, yeah, really good looking kid. You must have married up.

[Eric Martin]

You must have married up.

Without a doubt. At least he'll thank me for that.

[dj moonbat]

But mostly he's just very earnest. I'm not sure what he's thinking about most of the time, but boy does he mean it.

He must get that from you.

[Marty]

"I'm not sure what he's thinking about most of the time, but boy does he mean it."

I must have said that about Eric a thousand times. :)

[John Thullen]

"but boy does he mean it"

Eric was reading one of Marty's comments out loud to the cute kid -- thus the Johnny Carson deadpan at the camera --- "oh come on .. that's wild! I did not know that... and I don't think that guy Marty does either."

I love the way babies' pupils fill the entire eye socket.

[Jacob Davies]

That last photo is SO SERIOUS.

Eli has not managed to crawl. Forwards. Backwards he can do. He is pulling himself up to standing in the crib though. I suspect he will skip right to walking, thus proving he has inherited the three great virtues of a programmer from his father: Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris*.

Just post-moving, hence boxes:

* This is a line from Larry Wall, the guy who invented Perl.

[Eric Martin]

Eric mastered reverse before he got the whole "forwards" thing.

[Brett Bellmore]

Enjoy the crawling, it really gets fun when they learn to climb. My wife when in to check on Victor during his nap, and found him sitting on the crib rail, playing with a toy. :O

[JanieM]

My son "skipped right to walking" -- he never could get the hang of crawling, though he did manage to scoot around in more or less the position Eli is in in that picture.

He also skipped from nothing to sentences. He said "hi" one day when he was about 14 months old, then didn't talk again until he was 2, at which point he announced one day that he was going to Brad's (his old babysitter). The floodgates were open.

That last photo is SO SERIOUS.

Even on this slight bloggy acquaintance it's a familiar look. It's almost unbearably earnest (and cute), but it's also engaged, maybe a bit inquiring? I.e. not just introspective.

[Tony P.]

... the three great virtues of a programmer ... Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris.

Heh. Necessity is the acknowledged Mother of Invention, but I have long suspected that Laziness is the Father.

--TP

[JanieM]

Jared Diamond says invention is the mother of necessity. I don't recall whether he posited a father. ;)

[Tony P.]

BTW, about baby locomotion: my young nephew went through a period when he scooted around in an odd way. He seemed afraid to lift his litle butt more than an inch or two off the floor. So he'd lean forward on his hands and scooch his rear end forward as a unit, in a sort of canter. Comical, but amazingly fast. He progressed from that to walking more or less directly. That is, there was a brief time when he could crawl in the normal way, but still preferred his canter method until he discovered walking.

Also BTW: do any of you parents of toddlers have a second language in your household? If so, do you speak both languages to your baby?

--TP

[Eric Martin]

My son hear's Korean and English, but the Korean is mostly from his grandparents.

[Jesurgislac]

He just gets cuter, Eric.

JanieM: Even on this slight bloggy acquaintance it's a familiar look. It's almost unbearably earnest (and cute), but it's also engaged, maybe a bit inquiring? I.e. not just introspective.

I think it's the "Dad, you're blogging again," look.

[debbie]

Actually, I think he's looking kind of patronizing in that last photo. "And your point?"

[liberal japonicus]

I'd make a big push to get some Korean kids programs on DVD. If he gets hooked into the characters, he'll get a lot of passive language and it will give him something to talk about in Korean with Mom and the grandparents. I'm not up on the Korean kids programs, but there's
Dooly (둘리) the dinosaur and I believe that virtually all the Japanese anime are translated into Korean.

[Jacob Davies]

We are strictly monolingual. Unless you count LOLspeak in which case English may technically be a second language around here. Those guides to making your kids smarter that recommend talking to them like adults are non-starters around here because we don't even talk to each other like adults.

His mom uses a few Yiddish words and I guess I have picked up a few. I am fond of "verkakte" in particular...

[Anthony Damiani]

Adorable, as always.

[russell]

I'm not sure what he's thinking about most of the time

"OK Dad I'm in the high chair. Where's the food?"

Nothing like beautiful pictures of the bambini to get the day started with a smile. Thanks to y'all for sharing the blessings.

[Mike Schilling]

We did not teach the kids to speak Korean (other than a few phrases) and have always regretted that.

[Eric Martin]

Yeah Mike, that's all I could teach him.

Luckily his grandparents have no choice but to speak Korean to him.

[minnesota phats]

The last picture says "I don't suffer fools gladly." A chip off the old block indeed.

Eli is a real cutie.