getting around

I've spent most of the week fighting off a winter cold/sore throat, and catching as much time on the couch as possible to rest up. Staying home when I'm sick used to mean hiding under a blanket in my PJs, watching hours of daytime tv or Gilmore Girls DVDs, emerging only for another hit of Tylenol, food, or tea. This routine is somewhat more difficult with a 9 1/2 months old scooting around! I also realized that although it hurt my throat to talk earlier this week, it was all but impossible to NOT talk to Sara. She's incredibly verbal and would not take well to one-sided conversations!

She is, however, great at hugs and so far that's the best medicine. I even relaxed my 'no TV while Sara's awake during the weekdays' rules to give us Oprah. Surprisingly this worked to our advantage with Sara's sippy cup. She has been holding the cup to her mouth but not tipping her head back to actually drink anything... until she wanted to look up at something on Oprah, that is. Her goal of watching TV got her to look up and tip her head enough to drink some water! So apparently TV is not ALL bad for babies.

At the beginning of the week I thought well, at least Sara is still stationary and she plays independently, so I can supervise from the couch when I'm feeling really lousy. But wouldn't you know, after weeks of only rocking and pushing backwards, she's discovered how much fun it is to slide herself all over our hardwood floors! She can really go and it's funny to watch, but requires constant supervision. She sometimes rolls over suddenly and bonks her head on the floor unless I slide my hand under it. Or, she inadvertenly scoots herself under the playpen or couches...
This morning she made a great breakthrough, one that I clapped and cheered for... as I've mentioned before, Sara is very cautious about trying new physical moves. She has great balance and is a pro at sitting, rolling, and pushing up... she just hasn't been able to transition herself from one to the other unless she flops over. Lately she's been really frustrated with herself, which is hard to watch. She leans tentatively on one hand and then sits up again with a fearful look on her face, sometimes crying out like a baby version of swearing. I try to help, slowly guiding her through the movements, which she sometimes appreciates. Other times she protests loudly and arches her back (a throwback to when she wasn't ready to sit up...)

Then today after breakfast, trying desperately to reach one of her plastic shapes, she did it... she gingerly leaned forward... put her weight on her hands... and pushed herself over her legs onto her tummy. It was almost like Tai-Chi the way she slowly figured it out. What an accomplishment!

We play upstairs on carpet too, but for downstairs I think I'm going to lay down a few more foam squares until she gets the hang of it all. She needs more space without risk of hitting her head on the hard floor. I'm also not sure how to clean our hardwood floors now that she moves around on them.... dry sweeping doesn't seem like enough, but I'm not sure I like the idea of her touching any residue from my usual Swiffer wet jet. Anyone have any tips? I haven't found any all natural floor cleaners by Method or Life Brand, though maybe Seventh Generation makes one? When I tried to remember that brand name I was calling it Seven for all Mankind... but while I'd love a pair of their jeans too, the only way they would be cleaning my floor is while sliding around on my ass to follow Sara!

p.s. I just don't have the energy to tell my retail story anymore... I'm getting over it, but maybe next week I'll recap.... for now, perhaps just think twice before ever shopping here.