Snakey baby

Will and Owen and I were all really happy to get Rob back after his three-day workshop in Augusta. I’d been vaguely dreading that little stint of solo parenting but it actually proved pretty painless. It made me more aware of how much Owen’s grown up since the last time Rob left us alone for a conference – in his own not-quite-crawling way, he’s getting more independent by the day. And I welcome that. It may be more work chasing a crawling baby who’s eager to get into everything and put it all into his mouth too, but I find it freeing as a mom to know that I no longer have total control over the location and play things of my little ones. I’m ready for Owen to become an explorer.

And it’s really interesting to watch how a not-quite-crawling kid can maneuver around an entire room, propelling himself backward, paddling to the right, then the left, even getting up on his hands and knees, only to sink right back down again. Will and I think Owen looks kind of like a snake, and on occasion we’ll get down on our bellies and snake around with him for a moment too. I imagine it won’t be too much longer before Owen sorts out the forward motion thing, but all the backwards-sideways stuff is really kind of elegant and amusing in the meantime.