Livin' on the edge

That's basically how Alli's been for the past couple of weeks - livin' on the edge... on the edge of the couch, the edge of the end tables, the edge of the entertainment center, the edge of her bookshelf and the edge of her crib. It's very clear to Mommy B and I that she's pretty much done with the whole crawling thing. In fact, she has modified her standard, on-hands-and-knees crawl to what many refer to as the Mowgli crawl (from The Jungle Book):

She started doing this sparingly a couple weeks ago, and it was only when I took her outside to crawl around in the yard. I figured she did it because she didn't want the grass tickling her knees and that she was so smart for coming up with an alternative method of crawling. Well, it turns out she was really doing it to go faster. Now, she does it all the time... inside, outside, doesn't matter. If she wants to get somewhere, she'll lift her butt up in the air and be gone.

Of course, that's just when she's not walking on her own. OK, she's really not walking everywhere on her own, but she's close enough. She's livin' on the edge 90% of the time (meaning she's standing but holding onto something to steady herself), but then lets go of whatever she was clinging to to take a few steps on her own. She's been doing great the last few days - taking anywhere between two and six steps before either stopping and plopping down or falling forward into our waiting arms.

This past weekend, we took her out to the back yard (which slopes down away from the house) and let her tear loose. Mommy B held her at the top of yard and I stood a few feet away with my arms out towards her. She would let go of her mother and with the assistance of gravity, came romping towards me taking those oh-so-cute baby steps. We repeated this process until she made her way to the fence at the end of the yard. She had a blast - for a couple reasons I think: 1) she's slowly realizing that she can really walk on her own, 2) it's easier than crawling, and 3) it's faster than crawling.

She's already into everything she can reach just by crawling, and when she masters walking I know it means she'll just be able to get into everything faster. I've come to grips with the fact that it's just how babies explore and learn about the world around them, but I think I need to get back into somewhat decent shape if I'm going to try and keep up. I've been a sprinter my whole life, but chasing Alli around for a whole weekend is more like a marathon.