I've become a much tougher mom when it comes to officially documenting milestones. With Ivie, at the first possible sign of a new skill, the date went straight in the baby book. I was so eager for her to do new things and to "progress" along some time line that I had read in a book or online article somewhere...
Not sure if it's because I've calmed down a bit or because I've seen first-hand how fast kids grow, but I'm not so crazed about Macie meeting milestones. I know it's going to happen, and I know time is going to fly by. So she can take her sweet time, in my opinion. I'm loving everything about her in the baby stage!
I'm amazed that I'm saying this now. Particularly after thinking back to a conversation I had with my sister about her third child, Olivia, (who is 5 months older than Ivie) when it was about "time" for Olivia to start crawling. I had called Sarah (they live in Dallas) and, during the course of our conversation, I asked her if Olivia was crawling yet. Her answer shocked me. "NOOO, thank goodness! I'm not ready for her to crawl yet. Right now, I don't have to worry about her going anywhere! I hope she waits for another couple of months."
WHAAAT?!? Are you kidding me, Sarah? Ivie was only about 3 months old at this point, and I was soooo excited for her to start rolling over, and sitting up, and crawling, and walking, and climbing, and talking, and everything else you look forward to with your first child.
Fast forward to my second child. Macie is 5 months old today. And we all know that the next skill on her checklist is rolling over. Never mind that her big sister didn't roll over until she was 8 months old (talk about stressing out a new mom!). Macie has been showing signs over the past month of trying to roll from her back to her belly. But it was almost as if she was thinking to herself, just as Ivie did at that age, "Why in the WORLD would I want to roll over? I hate tummy time! Why would I CHOOSE to put myself in that predicament? That's for the birds. I'll stay right here on my back, thank you..."
Because "calm mom" has taken over, I've decided that before it goes in the book, Macie's going to have to PROVE that she's mastered the task. No accidental, one-time successes are going to make the cut this time around! I'm going to slow down time as much as I possibly can.
That's why, on Saturday morning, when I went upstairs to get Macie out of her crib after her morning nap and found her on her belly, it wasn't good enough. Nope, I told myself, the crib wedge could have assisted her in the rolling process. Not going in the book.
And Sunday afternoon, when I was playing with her on her mouse mat and she ended up on her tummy, it was quite possible that I had unknowingly assisted her. Nope, not going in the blog just yet.
By last night, Macie apparently was growing weary of having to prove that she had this rolling thing down. So in our kitchen, again on her mouse mat, she decided to end the debate once and for all. While Dale, Ivie, and I were at the table eating our Jimmy John's sandwiches (Plan B, after our original plan to make my famed chicken taco salad - without lettuce, of course - had, let's just say, "gone bad"), Macie was lying on her back doing lots of "talking". My back was to her, but I suddenly realized that she had gotten quiet. So I turned around to check on her, and, guess what? She was on her belly, looking up at me, smiling. As if to say, "SEE MOM! I can do it all by myself, on a flat ground, with no assistance from you or a crib wedge!" She then proceeded to roll over 5 or 6 more times.
Alright, Mac. It can go in the baby book and on the blog now. You're successfully rolling over before 5 months of age. Check that one off the list. If I can even find the "list", that is. I think I chucked it after Ivie waited 8 months to roll over and still turned out to be a growing, healthy little girl... Who needs checklists, anyway?
And my sister's "shocking" reaction to the question about Olivia crawling? I have a feeling I'll be saying the same thing in a few months. Pretty sure this isn't the only lesson I'll learn from my sister (aka, Super Mom) when it comes to parenting...
No comments:
Post a Comment