Mt. Mommy

Lil' D learns about 15 new things everyday. One of his current favorite things to do is climb. He has been pulling up to stand for 15 days. I feel that doing that was just like climbing for him.
Do you know that exercise called the Mountain Climber? Let me illustrate. Put your feet hip width apart. Now place your hands on the ground in front of you and walk them out so your back arches. At this point someone looking at you would see a bell curve shape to your body. Bend your elbows a little bit and pull your left foot to your hands. Now switch your feet. The beginner version of this exericse stays at this pace. For all you advanced people (read that: those of you who did not just birth a baby and lose all of your core muscles), jump your feet back and forth. This is exactly what moutain climbers look like when they climb mountains, right? Okay, no, but this exercise is called the mountain climber because it works the same muscles as when you climb a mountain.
Now that you know what the "Mountain Climber" is--picture Lil' D doing that...while nursing. The boy is OUT OF CONTROL! Since I am talking about nursing, when he is finished, he works his obliques by lifting his head and his leg in an attempt to go somewhere else. Oh, and he also likes to roll over (thankfully delatching himself), sit up and smile a big smile. Today he did that and immediately started crying (after the smile). I suppose he realized he was no longer nursing and seemed to think I had something to do that!
Back to the climbing. I believe his #1 goal in life is to climb Mommy. If I dain to sit on the floor to play with him he automatically crawls over to me and uses my [insert any body part not to exclude hair, finger, toes, and clothing] to stand up. Sometimes he lets go and falls on another part of my body. In the process he is probably reaching for my hair so he can pull it. He likes to use his toes to grasp onto anything so he can get where he thinks he wants to go. It is especially painful when I am wearing a nightgown, and he pinches my inner thigh with his toes. And being held does not stop his climbing instinct. He would leave any boot camp trainee in the dust climbing over the wall since he practices that all the time when we are holding him.
I am his favorite climbing apparatus, but he has no problem climbing other people. I think he really enjoyed trying to climb over Uncle Jeremy's shoulder while being held. Clearly Lil' D has no fear! He also enjoyed grabbing Uncle Jeremy's nose, chin and mouth.
I am sure this climbing phase will quickly be replaced by another equally entertaining behavior, because babies are adorable!