to crawl or not to crawl

The cord dangles just out of his reach.

"Come on. You want it, don't you? Come on! Come get it! You can do it. Just put that knee under ya... see? like this..." I encourage him, coaxing him to crawl. tempting him with the unattached computer mouse. weird? nah. he always wants what he isn't supposed to have. why not dangle the no no item to tempt him into crawling? Its like one of those cartoons where the meat is on a string, and the little animated guy runs and runs for it but never gets it. That was my plan. Now, thinking about it, I realize its slightly, well okay just plain ole unfair. I have to tempt him with something i'll actually be willing to give him.

I trade the mouse for his 'cell' phone.... i hit all the buttons, it talks, sings, lights up, does everything except actually make calls. or does it?

"see your phone?? you want it right? just reach for it... come on. right over here.... "

The kid grunts and sputters. his left arm flailing and little feet kicking. the right knee comes up... and it looks like he just might.... nope, he rolls onto his back. repeat of yesterday. I put his knees under him.

"Just do this!! see?! that's how you do it?" i say, as i immediately wonder why in the hell i'm showing him HOW to crawl. thats dumb. right now, he's stationary. i sit him in spot A. he stays in spot A. i put him in his pod. he stays in his pod. i vow to stop demonstrating the crawl technique.

"Yep. You're on your own now kid. whenever you figure it out. I'll deal with it then. Until then, heres your cell phone...!"