Li’l Knight
Strange. It’s like Baxter goes to sleep and wakes up able to undertake a skill we may have exposed him to the previous day. Crawling and walking are now both at the same skill level (mind you, he’s no Ben Johnson). As you may recall, rolling is an efficient form of transport for the young Master Baxter, but it has its drawbacks’chiefly, the world becomes somewhat off-kilter in its wake.
Crawling would be a snap, were it only in the backwards direction. But the last two days have witnessed a combination upward dog, two-legged, crouch-bounce, and somewhat lurid pelvic floor thrust, giving us confidence that a full crawl is imminent. Meanwhile, why not learn to walk? (With constant support’of course.) Baxter is keen to self-direct (aka steer). He’s quite focused on his destination. This may be the reason for his slightly lopsided gate. I can’t explain it, but Baxter likes to bolt his left leg forward and merely hop his right. He’s as baffled as we are. That said, if there is a right-turning marathon out there, we might have a future champion.
But what pushes the ‘cuteometre’ is his new tongue click. It’s quite clear and well rehearsed. The tongue is held against the roof of his mouth for quite a while as he builds suspense. Then it releases with a pop, surrounded by an expression that could be confused with pride. So now he’s drunkenly meandering about the sandbox clicking with each step. If you’re a fan of Monty Python’s Holy Grail, you can picture a knight prancing about, clapping two half-coconut shells together simulating a horseman.
