Sunday 7 February 2010

Adventures in Motherhood – The Milestones

Never before have I been so concerned with calendars and development, until having a child. All actions are reviewed on a chart and compared to where he should be today. On a whole, Connor seems to be above the average for hitting milestones. He is a very strong baby. Apparently all that excessive kicking he did before he was born translated into a physically fit baby. He has been bearing weight on his legs since he was three months old. I can't remember him not being able to hold up his head. He passed a toy from one hand to the other months ago... and just the other day he exhibited object permanence when he dropped (or threw) his toy on the floor and then leaned over to look for it...

As a general rule, he hits the milestones either before the average or right on the line... for example, he rolled over from belly to back the day after he turned 4 months. The "Books" say that he should roll over belly to back between 4-6 months. Recently, he was behind the curve... in my mind, anyway... all the other babies in his age group started rolling from back to belly... I started to fret... worry... then I discovered that he had zero motivation to make this move. Connor is extremely motivated by positive reinforcement... EXTREMELY! So we helped him roll from his back to belly and then lavished him with praise... he spent the next hour perfecting the roll over himself and now he is a rolling machine.

He still doesn't enjoy eating cereal. He gets a tonne of praise and ends up eating almost a tablespoon's worth but it's a long process. I enjoy the opportunity for Cory to feed his son, but I think we are going to stop again and try again at 6 months. Connor isn't eager and the cereal isn't value-added at this point of the game.

He is sleeping better (Thanks to my demi-goddess Kara!!). Swaddling was like giving him a sleeping pill. I am learning to put him to down to sleep when he starts to exhibit signs of being sleepy and following a loose routine with him. I still haven't corrected his bed time but he is following his own schedule now. Baby steps!!

3 comments:

Matt, Kara, Hunter and Cavan said...

I am so glad the sleeping is working for you!! And both our boys were started on cereal at six months. No interest before then!

Andi said...

I worried about things like that too, even though my son was ahead on a lot of areas and behind in some others.

I just started telling his pediatrician that I don't want to hear it unless there is a problem!

Let Connor take his time and I'm sure he'll do it on his own, with a little encouragement from you!

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