A moving concern

Abby is now at the point in her young life where she is no longer content to lay on her back and gaze thoughtfully at her fingers, and, occasionally, her toes.

Her efforts at self-propulsion reached their first serious level a couple of weeks ago, when she began consistently rolling from her back to her front. This followed weeks of being not quite able to accomplish the feat: she would roll up on her side, teeter precariously for a moment, then plunk back on her back, usually foiled by the presence of (her own) outstretched arm, which impeded the rollover.

Eventually she figured out that by keeping her arms outstretched and pointing above her head, she could flip from back to front quite easily.

As for what she's supposed to do once successfully on her front, that remains a work in progress. Initially she would lay there kicking her arms and legs fruitlessly, looking for all the world like a beetle that had been flipped on its back. Sometimes it looked as though she was trying to summon the power of flight; in these instances she would look at you whilst waving her arms with an expression that seemed to say,"hold on a sec, as soon as I get these flappers figured out I'll be right with you."

Now she's moved on to calesthetics. Push-ups mostly, but also a unique version of what appears to be abdominal crunches — while laying on her stomach, she mashes her face in the carpet and pushes her bum up in the air. Typically a holler of some sort is involved, though it's muffled since her face is in the carpet.

Pretty soon, we expect Ab(by)s of Steel.