Timeline of mobility

Babies start off with fewer movement capabilities than slugs.

The evolution of a baby's ability to move is always an interesting topic among those for whom it's the safest subject of a baby's development (in other words, poop, though a fascinating thing for new parents, is not the sort of thing one should bring up at dinner parties) so I present to you, Freida's Mobility Timeline.

The Back Scoot -- This one was pure accident. If I put her on a blanket on a wood floor, some movement was bound to occur. She could move mere centimeters but they were gleefully noted and phoned about.

The Front Scoot -- This one was more significant in that it was voluntary. It often begins when the poor little squirt accidentally flips a toy beyond the reach of her flailing arms. If it is a particularly favored toy, its recovery will induce thrown weight via the aforementioned flailing arms, which can lead to not only minimal shifting of position, but also a poked eye or swatted sibling (if said sibling is unfortunate enough to be closely observing the flailing of the arms, which is vastly amusing).

The Unassisted Sit -- This one is really a wonderful milestone. Freida achieved this at a moderate age (roughly 5 months) and mastered it quickly, given that failure to sit correctly invariably meant rough and sudden cranial contact with our (very cold, very hard) wood floors. Sitting her on a blanket was helpful but the older kids often tracked debris across the blanket and F had a rather disconcerting tendency to gather huge bunches of the blanket with her flailing arms in an apparent attempt to eat the whole thing at once. This led to gagging, crying, and general vociferous baby misery.

The Stomach-to-Sitting Maneuver -- This was accomplished as she was progressing along the natural course of muscle development on the road to crawling via getting up on her knees. Her feet have far more traction when she wears socks with treads and one day she found that it was more fun to get on her hands and feet than her hands and knees. This led to pushing up with her hands and eventually she was shocked to find herself in a sitting position. I was shocked, too.

The Sitting-to-Stomach Tragedy... I mean, Maneuver -- There's nothing like learning to get from ones rear to ones stomach to bloody a baby's nose or put bruises on her peachy forehead. Of course, she eventually had to learn the reverse of the Stomach-to-Sitting Maneuver so she could continue to experience the thrill of lifting herself above her previous lot and triumph over her confinement to belly during the dreaded "tummy time" those parents seemed to think was so important. Once she achieved these milestones, she was no longer subject to what others thought she should be doing with her time on the floor.

Sit Ups -- During diaper time, she discovered that if I held down her feet, she could do a sit up. She loved doing them, in fact, and could do many in a row (no babies are not playthings, but they sure are amusing when they're either determined or having fun. Yes, I would push her back onto her back and have her sit up again. A few times.) and she quickly become so good at them and amused at my frustration while changing her diaper, that it became solid muscle memory to sit up every time someone held down her feet.

Pulling Herself Up -- The natural progression from the sit up was the pull up. As soon as she could sit up, she would grab my shirt (which is a skill every nursing baby masters by the time they are two days old) and haul herself to a standing position. She loves to stand and grins hugely while doing so. She began to haul herself up on pant legs, furniture, laundry baskets, and short people's hair if it was handy.

Finally, last night she performed the One-Third-Crawl, One-Third-Walk, One-Third-Igor Ambulation -- This involved crawling with one knee, one foot, and both hands on the floor while she was hunched up to accommodate her odd leg positions. She is, officially, mobile. But I don't know if I can say that she's a crawler.

And, she has yet to roll over. Yes, folks, she's 7.5 months old, mobile, and cannot roll. She's basically a turtle who can do sit ups. She's even taking steps when her hands are firmly affixed to a stable surface. Her Back Scoot is marvelous in form and speed, and yet she can flip neither from front to back nor back to front.

Funny kid. She'll get it some day.