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Casper is loving "Pat the Bunny" lately - she is good at turning the pages herself, because it's spiral-bound, unlike other board books. She pats the bunny fur, plays peekaboo with Paul, reads Judy's book, and puts her finger through Mummy's ring. Not interested in Daddy's scratchy face or smelling the flowers, though. I need to get her some more toys she can do things with herself - she doesn't seem very interested in stacking things or putting small items into bowls/baskets, but she does like to manipulate things that are manipulable. I feel like the toys she has now are somewhat one-dimensional - she can chew on them or shake them - and she's ready for a bit more.

At La Leche League Monday night she put on a show of her yoga skills. Yes, we have a baby yogini - a pro at plank and downward facing dog. She is still on the verge of crawling but not there yet, and it feels like she's been stuck here forever! Someone suggested she may go to hands-and-toes walking instead of crawling, as she seems to enjoy the yoga poses so much. She does get her knees under her sometimes, but can't get much forward momentum. She can go forward a little bit if something especially enticing is almost in her reach, but won't bother if it's six inches away.

She played happily on the lawn last night for an hour as I gardened - the colander I had brought to put peas in was her new toy, and amused her endlessly. (When struck with a plastic cup, it made a satisfying metallic ring.) I picked peas! Got about 2 cups of shelled peas from my little row, and they were good, and I was so proud of myself and happy. I love peas, and you can't get shell peas, even at the farmer's market, anywhere near as nice as those you've grown. There are probably two more harvests from the vines, though the last will be a small one. Spinach is bolting without having done much. Beets have sprouted, as has my already-doomed-by-heat lettuce; no carrots yet. To plant the beans this weekend.

Slept on her stomach all night last night, and well - 7:30 to 11, to 2:30, to 5:30 to 6:45. No crying; I nursed her each time. Maybe we are through a bad patch and back to these average nights.

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Some babies never crawl. I didn't. We had read that crawling helps train a baby's eyes in the movements they'll need for reading (I have lots of deficiencies, but reading ability is not one, so we weren't actually worried, but still decided to see if we could prompt him into giving it a better shot).

Ben's movements were similar to your description Casper's. Finally, we got down on our hands and knees in front of him, and really slapped each hand on the ground hard, as we crawled. We'd take a few steps, and try to get him to ape us. I think he only watched the first few days we tried this (but he got a great kick out of us banging on the floor). Eventually, he decided to try it, and then crawled like a born crawler.

How old is she now?

I have a friend with a 8 month old and she was so worried about not being able to garden -- I told her that women with babies have gardened for 1000s of years. I think that she is keeping her baby in the stroller while she gardens. Do you have Casper on the ground besides you? Or in a wagon or stroller?

She is 8 months old. She sits on a blanket in the yard (in the shade) and I roam around, keeping within eye contact. She has a tendency to pull up the blanket and eat grass, but she doesn't go anywhere yet. We don't put chemicals on our lawn, so I figure a little grass ingested is fine. I can mow the lawn, dig, etc - but have to plan my tools so I don't keep running in and out of the house or into the front yard.

What a good plan!

I'll suggest it to her -- don't know why she didn't think of it.

Well, unless they use chemicals on their lawn.

Wow and Miss Casper and Justine are the same age. Cool.

I get the feeling that Frances learned how to crawl by watching the older kids at daycare. She's a goofy crawler, btw, but it's so cute to watch.

She loves toys that make noise, stuff with buttons and gears and the like. But her favorite is still the old standby--can I put it in my mouth?