I've been blessed that Sarah has not shown too much interest in independent moving. Though she's loved to be vertical since birth, and sat up rather early (pictures by 5 months have her sitting up without my help) she wasn't so much into crawling and she doesn't appear to be in any hurry to walk.
That's no to say she doesn't like to move - the main floor of our house has become a show room for various brands and sizes of baby gates, as we have three different brands on three different entrances/exits. That was the best $60 I've spent in a while as it's now been 24 hours since I've had to chase Sarah up the stairs. Having lost that distraction, she now goes exclusively toward the other two things she's not supposed to do - emptying off the bottom shelf on the entertainment unit and playing in the dogs water bowl, but baby steps (no pun intended). And she loves to cruise - she no longer needs an edge to pull herself up with - a wall, the refrigerator, a screen door, those are all enough of a steady surface to help her get onto her feet. And once she's there, she's quite the confident little girl - showing off with one hand or leaning up against it with the "look ma! no hands" face. But that's the end of her tries at mobility. If you hold her hands to try to walk with her, she pulls her feet up toward her bum, just like she used to do when you put her on grass. If I stand her up two feet in front of me, she'll stand for just long enough to realize she's standing, and instead of tipping forward and trying to walk, she'll plop down and crawl over to me. My aunt got her a learning table and a walking toy at a yard sale - learning table she loves, walking toy she hates (or at least is very much afraid of). The walking toy has some bells and whistles on the front of it, and she's more than happy to crawl around and play with those, but stand her up and have her hold on and she is not a happy camper.
I guess I should be grateful that she's not too mobile yet. It's already scary to think that I have an almost one year old, and I'm not wishing her to grow up any quicker than she is. And my mom told me I didn't walk until about 16 months, and I don't think she'll make it another 7 before her first steps. Lupita has taught her to clap while at daycare, and I suspect toddling is next. Thus far I've only "babyproofed" things that are 12 inches off the floor - once she starts standing I'll have to move my perspective up another foot.
(Family, you can stop reading now - this paragraph is exclusively for my friends who read this who still have babies at home... I mean, if you want to read it or are considering baby-proofing your house, that's cool, but this next paragraph has nothing to do with Sarah, more of a note for me). And gate preferences? I like the first years the best (the step mechanism is really nice and I think it looks the classiest... not like a house with a baby and two dogs is winning any designer awards, but...). Least favorite is the munchkin. I think the magnetic mechanism is too much. The dogs don't like any of them. All gates freak them out.
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