Core Muscles
Sitting up has to be the most under-appreciated, least anticipated milestone that a kid goes through in their first half-or-so-year. Goodness knows I wasn't waiting for it. But man, is it a biggy.
Bucking the timelines presented in pretty much every baby book Meg and I have bought, Asher tried to tackle crawling before he was even remotely interested in sitting up. He only made it as far as that on-all-fours rocking, but that he practiced with an obsessive fervor. I'm the lucky guy that gets to meet Asher in the morning, change the first diaper and then popping him into the bed next to Meg for breakfast, and every morning for more than a month, he'd be ready, already in the position, doing the back-and-forth.
But then suddenly, that four-on-the-floor toppled to the side, supported on one arm. The angle wasn't anywhere near a true sit, more like a slide into second. But then those core muscles kicked in. The angle increased. And before you knew it, he's upright with no hands. And practicing, to the exclusion of all things, all the time.
It's amazing how much more you can do with a kid whose torso isn't a wet noodle. That motherly hip-sit hold actually works now. Even more importantly, we're detecting a subtle shift in Asher's ability to amuse himself. The travel crib, his de facto play pin when something just has to be done around the house, actually keeps him amused now that he's got a higher vantage from which to select a toy.
Now that he's got it down, there are signs he's revisiting that whole crawl thing. He's got the hand and feet moving in the right directions, at the right time, for two or three quick thrusts. His head just hasn't quite gotten around the utility of this combo. It's gonna be flippin' cool when it does.