New Movement

Shira has taken the first steps toward crawling.

She can get into the crawling position from her tummy.

I'm really looking forward to the stage where she can start getting around on her own, though I know this can potentially cause a whole host of new sibling issues.

Like, what happens when she can grab Samuel's toys and he can't simply move an extra foot away to get them out of her reach?

Or, Samuel decides it's time to to tackle her or play "knock, knock" on her head, and she decides that isn't where it's at for her? Hmmm, maybe this could be a good thing.

Speaking of which, we have recently noticed that Samuel's "crazy" behavior coincides with Shira waking up from her nap, or just about anytime that anyone is paying attention to Shira (especially me).

When he sees me holding Shira he frequently insists on holding her himself, and a favorite past time is rapping his fist lightly on her head, or sitting behind her and holding on as he leans back, then rolling her back and forth, until he decides he has had enough, at which point he unceremoniously lets go and leaves her lying on the floor. For the most part she is a pretty good sport about it.

Steve and I are trying to figure out how to give Shira love and attention, without Samuel feeling that he needs to take over the situation by jumping off of furniture, banging on computers, yelling, or sobbing.

I have echoes of screaming matches with my mom recurring in my head which go something like, "YOU LOVE DAVID MORE THAN ME!!! HE GETS EVERYTHING HE WANTS!!! AHHH!!!" So far I can't figure out which child is going to be more pissed at me. Right now I am the only one (as far as I know) who berates me for being a bad/not perfect mother. Can't wait until my children take up that mantra for me...