Saturday, July 25, 2009

Babies are Daredevils

It amazes me how babies learn. The come into the world a blank slate, and they start learning right away. The learning taking place at our house now is the build up to walking. Braden loves to stand up. He pulls up on the ottoman all the time. He pulls up on the doors, the gate, the tables, his toys, my legs, Arica's legs, and everything else he can find.

Braden pulling up on things all the time is great. I am glad he likes standing up so much. I am glad he is trying to learn the skills needed for walking. What scares me is his cavalier attitude.

In the beginning he would just let go of his support whenever he was standing. That led to plenty of collisions between his head and the floor. Finally Braden learned to sit down gently. This type of trial and error learning is crazy. It must be how the X-games nuts learn. They try to flip their bike over and over until either they break their neck or learn the trick. Those are really the only two options.

Now that Braden can go from standing to sitting easily he is more into trying to walk along the furniture while holding on. He leans more than he walks, but he is able to move a little bit. The remote and our cell phones laying on the ottoman is his greatest motivation. The crazy thing is when he tries to go from the ottoman to the chair. He lets go and leans. It is the equivalent of jumping from one roof top to another. Any normal person would be scared to death to make this leap. Braden does it as if there are no consequences.

This is how all babies learn to walk. The method is crazy if you really think about it. Trial and error is always a great way to learn, but learning anything by taking repeated blows to the head is a bit wacky. Such is the life of a baby. If they ever want to learn to walk then they must risk life and limb.

I can't wait until Braden Kenievel's next stunt.

6 comments:

PJ Mullen said...

I loved that stage, it reminded me of college days when you'd cling to walls to find your way back to your dorm. It is amazing how fearless they are when it comes to trying new things.

SurprisedMom said...

Braden Kenievel! Funny!
It does seem like they are risking life and limb when they are learning to walk. I remember gasping a lot. Sometimes when the blood pressure rose too high, I'd either put the girls in their crib or the playpen. Then when it went down, they'd gain their freedom once again. It's hard watching them go through this stage. But to walk, first they must bump their heads, many, many times. Here's hoping Braden's next stunt doesn't hurt!

Daddy Files said...

The next stage is steps, and let me tell you they have no fear of stairs. They will careen down a flight of stairs with gusto if you let them. My guy isn't afraid of anything, and he's got a fresh scar on his chin from yesterday to prove it.

And don't even get me started on when they learn to pull themselves up on the couch and then stand up. Invest in pillows and line the floor with them my friend!

Mocha Dad said...

Trust me. You can wait on his next antics.

Brandy@YDK said...

it's amazing to me how fearless babies are. Grayson just lets go and trusts that something will catch him.

Frogs in my formula said...

Just wait...there's running and jumping and my favorite: banging heads against walls and floors. I'll never understand it.