In July I went to Bolivia for two weeks. When I left, Nathan was rolling everywhere he wanted to be. He sat for long periods if put down on his butt, and if he wanted something out of is reach, he would flop down onto his stomach and roll to get it. But once he got to his new destination, he couldn't sit himself up. When on his stomach, he would sometimes get up onto his hands and knees, and rock, like he was getting ready to crawl somewhere, and sometimes he would go forward two or three times, but invariable he would push backwards with his arms and end up back where he started.
Two weeks is the longest I had been away from him. I was afraid that he would treat me like a stranger when I returned. He still didn't like strangers before I went, and took his time getting used to new people. But while I was gone, Laura and the girls were up here from Arizona. They got together with Al and Marilyn a lot, and with Denise, Phil and PJ and lots of other relatives. They went to a water park, to the zoo, to the racetrack, and gathered at various houses. Jen and Nathan even spent the night at Marilyn's along with with aunts and cousins. So it was a very social time for the boy.
He gave me a big grin immediately when he first saw me when I got back. I loved it and told my self it was because he knows me and loves me, but I soon realized that he had gotten over his shyness while I was away. He is a bit tentative when he meets someone new, but only for a few minutes. He has realized that being the center of attention can be fun, and he uses it. He performs whenever he has an audience now.
The first Tuesday I was back, on July 21, Nathan had a new trick. During the day, I saw him sit himself onto his butt from the crawling position. Ben had seen him do it once before, but he did it five different times that I saw that day. I wasn't watching him constantly either.
On July 23, Thursday, he all of a sudden seemed to figure out how to go forward when crawling without pushing himself backwards with his arms. His crawling was tentative and cautious, but he was making forward progress. No more need to roll! That really opens up a guy's world!
By the next Tuesday, he had learned that he could pull himself to his feet, especially if someone was sitting on the floor with him and he could use clothing and hands to help him get up. By the end of that week, he was pulling himself up on the coffee table and on the couch.
