efficient mobility

For awhile Gracelyn was doing the caterpillar across the floor. She covered a significant amount of ground such that it was unclear if she would ever learn to crawl. Crawling is an overrated milestone; many kids may not develop a desire to go anywhere or they simply find other crazy ways to get around, including the caterpillar and butt scooting. But, these days, Gracelyn has decided to operate efficiently and has opted for crawling. Even while scooting, she would take one knee forward here and there to indicate that this was important to her. About a week ago, we noticed she took several knees forward, arms included. Technically, we could say she was crawling, but we tend to error on the side of repeatability and consistency before declaring it a milestone. Plus, when she performed this long display, she was gliding over a ball which may have been assisting her. Then, the next morning, she did it again, this time with her knee dragging a little finger puppet. Again, we are on the conservative side when announcing milestones, so this still wasn't enough. Later that day, at a Amanda's parents' house, she demonstrated crawling once again. We said we were conservative, but we don't want to be mean. Gracelyn was probably thinking, 'How many times do I have to put a show on for these monkeys!" It was now official! She is having so much fun now moving around and exploring things. She has quickly learned how to pull up on certain things that are close enough to the ground. Now, she is getting into shit: pulling out all of her Baby Einstein DVDs, finding a grain of rice on the floor, eating leaves, etc. I guess it is time to baby proof the house.