Wood Floor Wasteland

We have arrived safely in the frozen tundra that is Pennsylvania and snuggled down in my parents' home with no intention of leaving the heated house. While Hubbykins and I have overindulged in Christmas cookies, Babykins has had to face down the Wood Floor Wasteland.

My parents have a beautiful, new wood floor in their living room, with an area rug in the middle.  While it's gorgeous to look at (and fun for me to slide across in my socks), it posed a serious problem for Babykins when we arrived.  Not only is Babykins new to crawling, she has only ever experienced crawling on carpets, or on tile with bare knees.  So when her toy rolled off the area rug onto the wood floor, she didn't think twice about chasing after it.  Seconds later, she had wiped out, her pants-covered knees skidding across the wood.

This didn't deter our intrepid crawler, who doubled her efforts...and promptly slid backwards.  Unworried, she quickly decided she didn't really like that toy anyway, and turned her attention to other toys that were safely lying on the rug.  This quickly led to the Wood Floor Wasteland, where once beloved toys slowly languished outside the reach of Babykins.

This contentment with playing on the rug quickly ended, however, when the Christmas tree lights went on that night.  If ever there was something that would motivate Babykins to brave the Wood Floor Wasteland, it's the sparkle of a hundred lights and ornaments just waiting to be pulled off the tree.

We watched her square her shoulders, stare down the tree, and slowly move a knee onto the wood.  It took a few tries, but by dinnertime, Babykins had learned how to anchor herself with her hands while sliding her knees forward.  By bedtime, she was able to quickly and stealthily propel herself from the rug to the tree, little hand outstretched to wreak havoc on the lower branches.

Babykins still prefers the ease and safety of the area rug, but it's no longer surrounded by an effective wood moat, and breakables in the house are no longer safe.  She may not have brought her Adventurer Vest with her to Pennsylvania, but Babykins is still conquering all in her path.