We have a sitter...a crawler...and a puller

Yep - it seems like overnight Luke has figured out a whole bunch of things. I wasn't sure I was ready for this stage, but it is ready for me. Wow, what a week. He turned 6 months old this week and it triggered all sorts of things.

As I've described in much detail here, we have been doing the cry-it-out all week with progress and setbacks along the way. Last night was pretty good after a rough few nights, so hopefully it will continue in the right direction.

Luke also started crawling this week (with real 'steps'). Right after Christmas he began pushing up to the crawling position and rocking back and forth. He would then drop to his tummy and do a 'worm' manuever to get where he wanted to go. I thought he would have been crawling before they left, but he waited a few days longer. Though he has only taken a handful of 'steps' at one time, he definitely is getting around. Thankfully it isn't too fast yet, so I can get things out of his path before they end up in his mouth. With Jacob and his toys around, this task will be much harder with Luke than it was with Jacob.

Also, one morning late last week, Luke from the hands and knees crawl position to a sitting position. I only saw it once until this morning when he did it several more times. He likes to sit up and play since he rarely topples anymore (unless he has 'help') so that may be his motivation for getting back up.

And the biggest shocker of all happened this morning. He scooted/crawled his way over to the laundry basket I was folding laundry from and he pulled himself up to standing from a sitting position! I couldn't believe it. I am definitely not ready for that. I guess we'll have to think about putting the crib down soon. I don't know why, but for me, that big time signifies a stage change. He is getting big so fast! They say the 2nd (and 3rd, 4th, etc) kids often do things quicker than their siblings just because they want to keep up, and so far, this has held mostly true with Luke. Now if he walks before 9 months (which is what J did), I'll be positively amazed.

Because I am so lucky to have David in town most of the time, I was a bit concerned how we would fare without him for a week, but thankfully things went just fine. Jacob was glad to be back in school and in his routine which made my time as a single parent easier. David's plane should be touching down now, so we are looking forward to seeing him again. Since he was in Russia, it'll be a couple of days before he is back on schedule (they are 16 hrs ahead of us), but at least he'll be around.

Unfortunately, David will be coming home to a 'contaminated' house. Jacob caught a stomach bug last night and was up and down all night. I hate to see him sick, it is so sad. He couldn't go to school today, which saddened him. He seems ok today, so hopefully it's gone and no one else in the house will catch it. I spent hours disinfecting this morning so we'll see.

Here are the pictures from last week.