Immobilized

Tonight before bedtime, I took Emme's mobile off her crib.  Even after moving the mattress down to the next level, she can still reach the animals on it.  She gets on her knees, then reaches up with one hand for the top of the side of the crib and uses her free hand to grab the animals and drag then down in her dominion.  I'm basically worried she's going to break the thing.  So off it came. 

The changing station (which affixes to the top of the crib) is probably next.  Not only is she likely to bang her head against it at some point, but she -- more importantly, won't stay on the thing.  She is so active that she won't lie on her back unless I dangle something above her while I change her diaper.  It's like trying to rope a calf or something.  When I lay her down to take off her diaper or get her dressed after a bath, it takes her about ten seconds to flip over and take off for the closest toy.  Usually there are multiple starts and stops -- to get the diaper off or put the diaper cream on, to get the new diaper on, another round for putting a onesie over head.  And then I usually snap it from behind while she crawls away.  

All this developing new skills and storing away of newborn baby things would normally have me wondering about the next kid.  But Oliver was enough of a nuisance today to remind me that sweet, adorable little babies eventually become ornery toddlers who -- when not charming me -- make me want to pull my hair out.  So I'll enjoy the sitting/crawling/general adorableness of Emme's current phase without thinking about who might enjoy the mobile next.

It's only a matter of time

Emme is mobile -- and she's getting into trouble with it, literally and figuratively.  Yesterday, she found the dog bowl.  Fortunately, it was empty of any dog food, but that was her first foray out of the main living room.  She really can crawl quite well now, though she occasionally face plants if her hands slip under her, and she sometimes gets tired after a lot of crawling, especially on the hardwoods, and kind of lays her head down and fusses from all the effort.  We don't need to move the dog bowls or put a gate up at the base of the stairs yet (the prior one that protected Oliver having been irreparably bent when I fell over it twice in my early pregnancy haze), but those will probably happen soon.

Emme also had to have her crib mattress lowered.  She loves her mobile -- I need to video her watching it raptly move around in a circle above her head before she loses interest -- so much so that she recently started reaching up for the animals on it.  Several times I was rinsing out diapers in the bathroom when I heard a clicking some.  It turns out that Emme had "caught" one of the animals and was preventing the mobile from turning, even with the motor running.  That seemed like a bad idea for several reasons, and so she got moved further away from it rather than take it down.  It probably also saves her head from the changing table (that attaches to the top of the crib) when she crawls under it before going to sleep or after waking up.

I know it's really cliched to say that your kid is growing up too fast, and I really didn't feel that way with Oliver.  I sometimes am startled to see the nearly three-year-old he is in front of me and remember him at Emmeline's age, but he seems to have grown up right in line with the time that had passed.  Perhaps it's because I've been so much busier this time around with school and work and no maternity leave, perhaps it's because I've had a second child to keep an eye on during the early baby days, or perhaps it's because she's learning to do things earlier that Ollie did, but I do feel like Emme's little baby days have flown by and she'll be one before I know it or am entirely ready for it.  Regardless, it's still fun watching her learn new things and delight in life.  

I Love My Mobile

This one's got it all -- squirming, vocalizing, and smiling. He seriously loves this thing every time we put him under it.

Mobile Fun

Oliver has entered that stage where he needs more than just to be held, and since mom and dad are, sadly, not available 24/7 to provide stimulating interactions, we've starting buying, yes, toys. My mom had suggested a mobile. Ollie doesn't sleep in his crib at night yet (he's in the co-sleeper for probably another six weeks until he outgrows it and before he grows too attached to sleeping near mom and dad), but I thought I'd give it a try. I bought the Tiny Love Symphony in Motion Mobile because it seemed the most stimulating. We weren't looking for something to put him to sleep -- just something to capture his interest. And boy does it. Wes likes that it provides options for what classical music to hear while it turns -- Mozart, Beethoven, or Bach. Oliver seems to like the bright colors and black and white contrast. It doesn't just turn in a circle on a horizontal plane, either. It rotates down near him, and some of the pieces move as it turns, which makes noise. And me -- I like that it gives me 15 minutes to wash the dishes, stuff clean diapers, or pump without a fussy baby.