Definite crawling and stranger anxiety.

On April 8, Jocelyn turned 9 months old. To celebrate this momentous occasion, she had her first bona fide crawl. It wasn't a scoot / drag / roll / whatever. It was a hands and knees move across the room. The motivation? Her Dad's toast :-). She crawled to the coffee table, pulled up, and cruised around it (did I mention she's an expert cruiser now?). It was awesome!

She doesn't like it, though. She'll do it as a means of getting to somewhere that she can stand / cruise. She is not a crawler. I think it bothers her knees (which are now all red and rug burnt). And it's just not as great a vantage point as standing. But in the absence of something to hold on to and cruise along, it's what she has.

Stranger anxiety is also in full swing. A few weeks ago we had a family dinner at a sushi restaurant. The waitresses just ate Jocelyn up. One particularly friendly woman got face to face with my little J bird, who instantly burst into tears. It was just too close! That's been the extent of her stranger anxiety overall - strangers getting close. Until last week, that is...

Grandpa Karle came into town to visit our little bugaboo. And she took to him immediately. She woke up to 'meet' him Saturday morning (they have met on several occasions, of course, but we didn't think she'd remember). She went right into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. She spent lots of time 'flirting' with him - lots of looks / look aways, coy smiles, giggles, etc. It was very, very cute. But then we went to dinner, when Grandpa needed to put on his reading glasses to see the menu (he is a grandpa, after all, they need reading glasses :-P). Well, Jocelyn looked at him, stared silently for a moment, and then burst into tears. It was SO SAD. Grandpa immediately took his glasses off, but it didn't help. Throughout the rest of the weekend she looked at him suspiciously, especially when his glasses hung on his shirt. He tried to avoid wearing them in her presence, but that wasn't always easy.

She still hasn't taken her first real walking steps yet, but I'm sure that they are coming any day now. She's SO ready. She wants to walk into the kitchen, sun room, dining room, everywhere! She is no longer interested in her toys. She is only interested in walking. It's cute, but it sure is exhausting.