Our not-so-zen infant yogi

Having posted the previous picture, we thought it was only fair to include one of Brian's more typical shots of Edith. Along with Granddad Jack, Brian is Edith's preferred photographer. Brian and Laura's own little Julia is going to be one beautifully photographed baby once she arrives.

Finding Edith in a resting pose like this is relatively rare these days. At five months old, this girl is itching to crawl. When you put her down for "tummy time," she immediately gets up on her hands and knees. Then she rocks back and forth, often cheering herself on with little grunts and babbles. But instead of moving one hand and the opposite knee forward, which she hasn't figured out, she instead gets up on her toes. I read in an all-too-typical Princeton flyer last spring, advertising a mother-baby exercise class, that "yoga comes naturally to babies." At the time I thought that yoga for babies was ridiculous. And I still mostly do, but I admit that it does seem to come naturally: Edith's pose is a near-perfect downward-facing dog. Although she has the pose, however, she doesn't have the inner harmony. Rather than hold the position, she starts to inch her feet forward toward her hands...until, off balance, she pitches forward onto her belly. Untangling her limbs, she begins again. It's not orthodox, but it's the best she's got.

I'm impressed with her bravery in adopting this body-hurtling technique considering the paucity of padded surfaces in our apartment. We've got parquet floors everywhere, so until tonight, Edith's only protected surfaces were her Gymini mat and a crib quilt we put down on the floor, both just a few feet square. Edith was off them in a minute tops, risking bruised knees and a mouth full of dog hair.

But tonight a package arrived that should change everything. Remember those interlocking, thin foam squares that often served as the surface below the playground equipment? They have them now in rainbow colors, and this particular set features the letters of the alphabet, one letter per square. We put them together in Edith's room as her new floor covering. The colors and letters were a hit. She immediately started squealing and threw herself into crawling practice with renewed vigor. And the mat was interesting enough that when she reached an edge (which took a good five minutes), she turned around and started back in a different direction. I expect great things of this relationship.