Mobile Matthew

Well, Matthew has started to move around using the rock-n-scoot method. This involves rocking his upper body forward and backward and slowly shuffling forward by putting more emphasis on the forward motion. He usually is pretty successful for a few rocks, then gets over-excited and rocks himself too far backward, at which point he topples over. Sam did not use this method of locomotion. He was pretty immobile, except for rolling, for eight months (and couldn't even really sit up until then), and then put it all together (sitting, crawling and pulling up) over a two week period. But Matthew is already scooting about one foot. And that's his progress over the past two days. It's ingenious how babies come up with these things. My desktop wallpaper is a picture of the two kids from when Matthew was around one month old. And now he is doing the rock-n-scoot.

To celebrate Jason's last day of his two week vacation from work we went to the Children's Museum today. I was mentioning to Jason that it's strange that it's called a museum because it is really four stories of imaginative play area. There's a kid-sized town with a metro bus, grocery store, doctor's office and things like that, a water works plant, electric plant, nature area, and a special toddler/baby play area. Maybe museums stimulate the intellect and that's what the connection is? In the past I've spent around 2-3 hours there with Sam and some other mom and kid friends. However, I think Jason was ready to head out after maybe 45 minutes. He found studying the parenting culture very interesting, but I think that was all. Well, maybe he also enjoyed Sam's dancing exhibitions in front of the blue screen with music. Matthew was fairly entertained in the baby area with all the mirrors and some other stuff that seems to be interesting to babies. We stayed for about 1.5 hours (my shortest trip ever) and Jason complained about the crowd. He doesn't know what a crowded Children's Museum looks like. It's like the Mall of America on Black Friday, except for everyone is under 8 and has parents hovering nearby. The museum was so quiet this afternoon it was practically a library. Not once did we have to crowd in the larger-than-average elevator with four other strollers and associated parents and walking toddlers. Not once did I worry about Sam getting run over by unaware and reckless older kids. I'm sure Jason will have many more Children's Museum trips to look forward too as it is right next to where his new job is at, even sharing a parking ramp. I'm planning plenty of late afternoon excursions for our family's enjoyment.