The toys must be used in their proper manner.

When we wanted Jonathan to show off his crawling in our latest video, we knew exactly how to motivate him. Chris held him at one end of the living room while I carefully set up his stacking rings. This is the classic Fisher Price toy that we all had as kids - the yellow pole with the rainbow plastic rings. Jonathan is very particular about his ring toy. He will not tolerate the rings being stacked out of order! Chris discovered this one day when he placed the smallest ring on the pole first, then balanced larger rings on top of it. Jonathan sprint-crawled across the room and knocked it over. The top three rings went flying, while the two small ones stayed on the pole. Jonathan whacked at it with his hands until they flew off as well. Chaos vanquished, Jonathan crawled away with a self-satisfied swagger. So when it came time to shoot the video, I set up the rings backwards. Jonathan was literally pawing the floor while Chris held him in place. He's like one of those toy cars you wind up until they are at maximum tension, then finally release to ZOOM away! You can see the end results in our crawling movie on the home page.

Sam, Jonathan's neighborhood friend, brought him a wonderful present at their last play date. It's a ball about ten inches in diameter! Jonathan hasn't learned yet that he can't open his mouth that wide. Every time he encounters the ball, he tries to bite it. Of course, the ball just rolls away a little. The end result is Jonathan crawling after the ball, slobbering on it, as ball and baby go around and around the living room in a circle.