Gearing up?

I think Mallory may be gearing up to crawl. When you lay her down on her back to play she almost immediately flips over onto her tummy - whether she's comfortable or not - and kicks her little legs and arms like she's swimming. It's pretty funny to watch ... or annoying if it's bothering her tummy and she flops right over again moments after you've helped her back onto her back. Which is the other thing. I know she knows how to roll from her tummy to her back, so why she doesn't fix the situation herself, baffles me somewhat. At any rate, when she is comfortable it's amusing to watch her look around as if she's taking mental inventory of all the things she plans on getting into once she figures out how to get to them. Needless to say we have some baby-proofing to do!

Oh and the big news is that she slept on her tummy for the first time last night. Up until now she's just rolled back and forth from side to side and somehow figured out how to spin all the way around her crib like a human sun dial. But yesterday evening, just as I was getting into bed myself, I heard her start to fuss differently than "I'm in between sleep cycles and will be out again in mere seconds" or "I'm actually awake and need reassurance (or to eat, which thankfully she only does once a night now)." So I switched on the video to see what was up, and there she was on her tummy facing the camera (thank goodness) just looking around and kind of panting with what I assume is the effort of holding her head up. I was curious to see how the scenario would play out without intervention on my part, so I watched as she eventually laid her head down (again facing the camera, thank goodness), started sucking her thumb and went back to sleep. To calm my own fears of her sleeping that way, I watched for several minutes until I was convinced that it was not an optical illusion and that indeed her back was rising and falling with each breath. I also reminded myself that generations of children, including mine, slept on their tummies ALL the time. Besides, it's not like I can stop her from rolling over or even be awake/aware to flip her back over every time it happens. I wonder if she surprised herself when she woke up again? It must be interesting to see the world from a whole new perspective.