Oh, brother!

James is not going to rest until he is crawling. He is working so hard! When you pick him up, he digs his toes into your stomach and buries his head in your shoulder, as if to crawl up whoever is holding him. Right now he is actually crawling backwards; he hasn't figured out how his arms and upper body pull him forward. So when he is not nose-diving because his arms aren't pulling him forward, he is rolling across the floor exploring new and exciting places.

Just for reference, Joel began crawling (army style) at almost 7 months, and on all fours at 8 months. James is not yet 6 months old, and has quite a lot of motivation to crawl, namely, Joel.

Big brother Joel is learning very well how to be communicative and interactive with James. I have really tried to encourage him to talk to James, and not to worry about something specific to say to him. Now Joel tells him everything, such as, "I'm wearing flip flops" and "it's okay, Mama broke her phone". True to his sweet nature, he really tries to comfort James when James is upset. He always assures him that "it's okay" and does different antics to get James to laugh. Usually he plays a musical toy and dances. Sometimes he says funny words or just "I LOVE you!!" over and over again (sounds like "I wuv you"). Joel can almost always get James' attention and distract him from whatever is ailing him.