Adventures at the Hill House
Lately instead of blogging and instead of [insert lots of other worthwhile activities here], I’ve been chasing Madeline around, as she has now developed the ability to crawl. I can no longer set her on the floor with a pile of toys and then go back to focusing on whatever is on my computer screen. She now wanders away from the pile of toys to look for lamp cords, stray pieces of paper, my cell phone, the stereo knobs, and many other things previously unknown to her.
My days now go a little bit like this: I work for a few minutes, then pull Madeline away from the forbidden objects, tell her “no”, go back to the computer (or the kitchen counter or where ever else I was working) and then repeat the process moments later. Okay, so she doesn’t do that all day long. And she still comes up with things to do that are amazingly cute. A couple of days ago she crawled behind the recliner in the living room and started banging on the heat vent with her hand for no apparent reason. Tony suggested she might be a percussionist in training. 
Besides crawling, Madeline is also getting more proficient at eating solid foods, and has worked her way up to cheerios, club crackers and tiny banana chunks along with the usual pureed fruits and vegetables.
The real sign of the times ahead came yesterday. I had tried to put Madeline down for a nap, but she didn’t seem to be falling asleep after about 10 minutes of crying. When I went in to check on her and discovered that she had pulled herself up to her knees and was perched at the edge of her crib with her head above the level of the crib railing. Time to lower the crib mattress! She has been trying to pull herself up to her feet against other pieces of furniture, but hasn’t quite developed the strength to get all the way to her feet yet.
With all of Madeline’s new abilities, we decided that Tony needed to make it his project to further “child-proof” our house. With the crib mattress lowered yesterday, priority number one was securing the stairwell! We still haven’t put the little plugs on the outlets or the extra locking mechanisms on the cabinets with harmful stuff in them, but she seems to be ignoring those things for now anyway, so we are probably safe at least for a few more days!
Here’s hoping that Madeline actually learns what “no” means sometime soon!