Crawling!

When we put up the Christmas tree, I was able to set the baby on a blanket so she could watch us and play with her toys if she wanted.  We had a wonderful time showing her the ornaments and listening to her cute sounds of amazement when the tree first appeared and the lights first came on.  Now we are in the process of taking down the tree, and the baby is crawling (CRAWLING!) up to help out.  I actually caught her stretching up as far as she could to try and grab one of the lower branches in her mouth (luckily I'm faster than she is). 

I just can't believe how quickly this has happened.  She's been up on all fours for some time now, but just a few weeks ago she started rocking, and that seemed to be the final piece.  Now she's working on coordination, but she can zip across the room faster than you'd believe.  Now that the world is her oyster, she is no longer satisfied by the toys on her blanket.  She'd rather enjoy some computer cables, a magazine, or the kitty instead.  At least our fat old kitties are getting some exercise this way! 

The next step?  She's working on getting up the single step so she can leave the living room and explore the rest of the rooms.   Of course this means we need to redouble our child-proofing efforts.  Very, very soon she's going to be discovering the stairs, and then there will be trouble if they aren't gated.  I get the feeling that life is never going to be the same.