Finally Crawling!

We have been meeting with a physical therapist to get Emmett some help in the crawling department. Our first official therapy session (after two meetings of an assessment and a review) was on Tuesday June 11th. Ironically, the night before - Monday the 10th - Emmett started crawling! So, at almost 13 months is the age he decided he was finally going to figure this out! He had been getting up on his knees for about 2 weeks prior and rocking forward and back. He is also able to pull up onto his knees now. It won't be long until he is pulling up to standing. The therapist had given us several things to work on including getting in and out of hands and knees, rocking forward and back on knees, playing near a stool our couch to encourage him to pull up, etc. It may have been helpful,, or this may have just been his time.. or maybe it was a combination of both. Luckily, this later development (I was assured by the physical therapist) is no indication of him necessarily being behind in any sense later in life. But as his mother I do feel relieved that he has made this progress. I am proud of my little man!

Now he is getting into EVERYTHING! Tonight when I was getting him ready for bed he started crawling and I waited to see where he would go.. straight for the top of our stairs (right outside his bedroom door) of course! I was right there blocking them - but now I know how his mind works. :) He will leave no stone unturned. If he sees a spot of black lint on the carpet he will crawl to it and put it in his mouth. I know what people mean now by saying that we were lucky he wasn't crawling yet.. but I am still glad that he has made this progress. I can tell that he is really impressed with himself as well - and much happier to play alone.

Here are two videos from the evening he learned to crawl. Grandma Pat just happened to be in town for a conference and was enticing him with a rubber ducky she got in her lunch at the conference that day.

Now - on to walking!

Emmett's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to Emmett!
We had a small celebration for his birthday. We stuck with an owl theme since Emmett still hasn't expressed any strong desire towards a theme of his own choosing. I made the cupcakes below with Aunt Katrina's and Grandma Pat's assistance.

We had a simple lunch of sandwiches, salads, etc. We were sure to include Emmett's favorite - pasta salad on the menu!

Rustin and I put together two small projects in preparation for the party. We hung his monthly owl photos in order on the mantle. We also put together a little slideshow of our baby boy's first year.

Not so sure about this hat Mom...

Enjoying his cake.. The poor guy was already SO tired by this point because of all of the excitement! It's tough turning 1 year old. He had a few bites of his cupcake. Not much of a fan. I would guess it is probably because I don't offer him things like cake, candy, etc.

Emmett received many gifts. One that he seems to enjoy so far is the "Haul 'n Ride" we got him. Ideally he would scoot around on it using his feet. So far we push him around on it. He could also walk behind it or use it to haul things around. We are hoping he will get a lot of use out of it in the future. :) I think he will. He likes to push the buttons to make it honk, etc.

After a long day of fun Emmett went down for a nap at 1:00pm and slept for 2+ hours. He's a good little sleeper... and a good little boy too! If you ask him if he is a good boy he will nod his head yes! It was wonderful to be surrounded by our close family. We missed Grandpa Nelson because he was at home fighting a cold! Next year he might be up for seeing more friends. Maybe we can even go to a park! :) We'll see..