Jeepers Creepers and the Bye-Bye Bottle

Creeping and Crawling Progress
He is trying! He is trying so hard! He really really wants to crawl. Every time Crew wants to go somewhere: he gets right up on his hands and knees, walks his hands forward, realizes his legs aren't following, then lays down and rolls where he wants to go. That is such huge change! In fact, a few times he has tried to jump forward on his hands and knees, attempting to launch himself. We are getting so close. So close!! He plays on hands and knees all the time now (a rather shocking development). His core and arm strength has improved so much that he can comfortably be up on his knees and balance himself with one arm while he reaches with his other arm. These are really significant improvements.

He is a stubborn little guy and everything always has to be his idea (probably something to do with the y-chromosome in this family). At last he has started to catch the vision! No more tears of rage, no more flinging extensions, no more ghastly meltdowns, no more cheater-cheater pumpkin eater. Last night he allowed Kinley to walk his hands while I manipulated his legs for him. He was paying very careful attention and didn't resist. I hope to have a grand announcement in the very near future!

He's also starting to pull himself up onto high knees when he feels sufficiently motivated. His equipment of choice is the open dishwasher to grab a steak knife.

Bottle? I Don't Need No Stinkin' Bottle!
My children have a history of drinking from bottles long past the age of social acceptability. With Kinley, it was DeAnna who finally mentioned that at 18 months, it was probably time to introduce her to a sippy cup. With Tanner, I knew better but I didn't care. It was less messy, much easier, and he liked it. Phooey on societal norms.

With Crew I had resigned myself to being on the bottle indefinitely. His eating and drinking issues are complicated enough that I have had zero interest in making life more difficult for him. He's not a big embracer of change, if you hadn't noticed. Crew, however, has weighed in on the matter with a different opinion. Suddenly, he much prefers a sippy cup (without an insert) or an open cup. I hold them for him, but he drinks more volume and much faster from these vehicles and he is no longer disastrously messy about it. He can now handle the dramatically increased flow. He drank 4 ounces of chocolate pediasure last night in about 90 seconds from a sippy cup. He even goes so far as to try to drink out of the sippy cup by himself on occasion.

Big changes for our big boy!