The one where she crawls...

Yay! My daughter can crawl! ::does the Dance Of Joy::

A day of feasting and general merriment (with a fair bit of wenching) has been declared in my household. All the villagers are rejoicing, because the Bear has finally crawled. Seriously, though, I thought she might not get there. And then the Spouse read this scientific "study" that claims that children who skip crawling and go straight to walking are more likely to have learning disabilities, so I was all worried that my child would be all LD because she never crawled. All my fears have been allayed. Well, most of them. I've decided that motherhood is just one big worryfest.

Like today, for instance, when she woke up from her nap and had blood in her ear canal. A worrisome sight to even the hardiest of mothers, I assume. She has tubes, and they said if we saw blood it might mean that the tubes were working their way out before their appointed time, or that she had an earwig or something. (No, the ENT did not make an earwig reference, but if you ever saw that particular episode of the Twilight Zone, that's pretty effing scary!) So, off to the doctor, where it turned out that the tube was just blocked and he pulled out tons of brown gooey scabby looking stuff. (TMI, I know. Sorry.)

But she can crawl! I'll understand if nobody else in the universe is impressed that my child has learned to crawl, but Wow! I am so darn happy I could spit.

On yet another positive note, the last day of school is next week! My summer vacation is looming large on the horizon. I have several projects I'd like to accomplish since I'll be home with the Bear all summer, and several places I'd like to go visit. There are serious doubts about how much of this will actually get accomplished, but I've always been a dreamer. I want to organize the closets in my house: mine (still full of maternity clothes and skimpy clothes from my pre-baby figure, but very few currently wearable items) and the Bear's (full of various shapes and sizes of likewise outgrown clothing). I would like to get rid of all superfluous crap and take it to Goodwill in the vain hope that someone else will be able to use it. I want to *start* the Bear's baby book. Yes, I know she is nearing her first birthday. Better late than never, right? I'm a busy lady. I want to visit relatives, many of whom have never seen the Bear at all, except in pictures. These relatives all live in fairly unexotic locations, but at least they're all near each other so that it only takes one trip! I want to make jam. I love making jam. I want to train the Bear to sleep past 6 a.m. (this is very high on my list of priorities, believe me). I need to plan for the fall, since I'm moving to a new school district and a new grade level - I have to start from scratch! (The geek in me finds all that planning very appealing.) Oh, there's so much to do... now watch, I'll spend all summer frittering away my time with pleasant but frivolous tasks and not accomplishing anything on my to-do list. Motivation has never been my strong suit...

I just love summer - my birthday, P's birthday, and the Bear's birthday are all between Memorial Day and Labor Day, so there are always presents and festivities to be had, plus the weather is great, and I don't have to go to work. I get to be a homebody for almost three months! (I'm always chomping at the bit to get back in August, but in May I'm always ready to be done. All part of the great circle of life, I suppose. ::hums Elton John tune::

And I have a Crawling Baby! All other concerns pale in comparison.

A question for next time: is it normal for an almost-ten-month-old to suddenly double her food and sleep intake? I mean, literally, double them both? It's like she has a tapeworm or something (or is this just a growth spurt? It mysteriously coincided with the learning to crawl, but that might not mean anything). Anyone know what this is?