A day at the races

Yesterday we arrived a little early to mommy and me yoga and the yoga assistant Carmen let Monroe play with her water bottle for a bit. The bottle quickly drew the attention of our nearest neighbor, Utah. Utah is 11 months old and has been crawling for a month or so, so he quickly appeared at Monroe's side when she started banging and sloshing the oh-so-attractive bottle. So Utah's mommy and I were hovering there to make sure the babies didn't hurt each other, and they both played happily with the bottle.

I should say Monroe played with the bottle and Utah looked for an opening. I was afraid he would soon find her iron grip on the fun sort of frustrating, so I tried to give him a turn. but he wasn't forward enough to hang on to the booty for long and Monroe kept craftily getting the bottle back every time his grip lessened. So when Monroe accidentally rolled the bottle about 7 feet away across the room, I thought this was the perfect moment for Utah to get a chance to play with it alone and stave of any tears of frustration that might be in his future. I figured he could crawl out there and get the bottle beyond Roe's horizons while I distracted her. HA!

Next thing I know, Monroe and Utah are both lined up on my yoga mat in the crawling pose like thoroughbreds behind the starting line at the Kentucky Derby. Everyone burst out laughing as the two babies took off side-by-side in hot pursuit of the water bottle, forming a perfect little baby race.

Monroe has just barely started crawling--we don't see her do it every day and she never goes more than 3 feet or so. So imagine my surprise when she flat out BEAT Utah to the prized bottle! Uh huh. She was there first with time to chew and coo!! And he's 11 months old. Apparently, it's all about the proper motivation!!! Perhaps if there were water bottles strewn about the house we'd see her crawl more? (Not that I'm even anxious for that--I wasn't ready for the stays-where-you-put-her phase to end!!!)

Monroe and Utah with the best toy in the room