Veronika is so close to crawling, but her arms still aren’t quite strong enough yet to propel forward. You can build those arm muscles by placing a bolster under your baby’s belly; think of this as 8 month old tummy time!

I rolled up a beach towel tightly and positioned her with arms over it and legs behind.

Now lift your baby’s legs. The weight will transfer to their arms, and hopefully he or she will “walk” the hands forward.

Veronika was delighted! Mom, she seemed to say, I’m doing it!

You can roll baby forwards a little ways – just make sure you are on a smooth surface, and not a carpet.

After I let go of her legs, I let Veronika hang out this way for a while. She kicked her feet, and shifted her torso side to side to check out the towel, so she was still getting in quite a little workout.