The past couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. Picking up the whole family to move to a different state and start a new job in such a short time span has been extraordinarily stressful.
We were back in St. Louis last week to look at houses and for me to fill out some paperwork in the department. They ordered me a rug and will be moving a desk, bookshelves, and a filing cabinet into the office. I think I will be very happy working there.
In the midst of all of this, Will has cut another tooth (we're up to 7 now). He's also pulling up to his knees, and more and more frequently, he is pulling up to one knee and one foot. The biggest news in his life is that he has finally started crawling. For some time he has been quite mobile, but he has never crawled in the traditional sense. I'm not exactly sure how he's done it, but he has managed to come up with alternative forms of locomotion. One of his favorite ways to get around was to sit on his bottom and scoot across the floor. He also would lay flat on his belly and rotate in ever widening circles or push himself backwards. For about a month he's been so close to crawling, but not quite there. And then finally, yesterday (July 31st), he just did it. I was upstairs in the storage room packing some boxes, and Rob was downstairs playing with him, when Will shot across the floor in a clumsy, loping crawl after Rob's Nalgene water bottle. Rob yelled up to me to come down, but way back in the storage room, I didn't hear him, and I missed the whole thing. Go figure. I've been with this kid 24 hours a day for almost an entire year, but I somehow managed to miss his first crawl. Ironic.
He spontaneously burst into another bout of crawling this afternoon, and Rob managed to film it:
In the video, you can see him going after one of his most prized possessions: a blue bowl. This was the bowl in his bassinet at the hospital; I think it had some diaper cream and baby wash and lotion in it. I brought it home with us and use it every night to rinse him off in the tub. He loves it. Many times he carries it out of the bath with him and up to his bed.
It is a relief to me that he has finally hit this milestone that it seems like everybody else's baby has hit months ago. When he was 9 months old and not crawling or pulling up, the pediatrician told me he was "developmentally delayed," which believe you me, has been resonating in my head ever since. The other day when he was screaming in my arms for a solid hour while I was trying to get him to take a nap (he was exhausted but would not sleep), and I was also sobbing hysterically, a thought occurred to me. I really think that he has been so late with many of his milestones because he spends so much of his time crying. All that crying just doesn't leave time for new tricks such as rolling over, sitting up, or crawling. I remember all the other mothers talking about "tummy time" and how their babies would roll over when they put them on the floor. And I just kept thinking, how could they do that? For at least the first 5 months of his life, Will cried whenever I wasn't nursing him. There simply wasn't time for tummy time or rolling over, because I could never put him down. I feel like nobody believes me, but it is true, with the crying. While other babies have been doing things like pulling up and standing and crawling and walking, Will has been... crying.
I need some sleep.
3 comments:
LOVE LOVE LOVE THE CRAWLING VIDEO<<<< SOOOOOO PRECIOUS!!!! now it's time to get KNEE PADS, HELMET, MOUTH GUARD ( to protect those cute 7 1/2 toothies!!!) you, all the protective gear for the FALLS and what not!!!>:( and about that PEDIATRICIAN???? UHHHHHH if she thinks he has developmental issues , SHE SHOULD NOT BE A PEDIATRICIAN!!!!!!!!! CHARTS< graphs, NUMBERS< all make me want to HURL> they MEAN NOTHING< there are NO 2 CHILDREN ALIKE<<< EVER! he is DOING JUST FINE and WILL continue to do so! as for the crying, i"m so sorry, these MOTHERS who have 'quiet little LUMPS, have no idea.. I do understand but the cries will become fewer , but in the meantime, put him in the pack and play , TURN on some BABY ALLOWED DVD and YOU CAN READ A BOOK> WITH EARPLUGS!!! til then, hang there, SOME DAY, this too shall PASS>>>>>> luv you , mama
I can't offer any perspective on the crying since, I think, we've received less than the usual amount that comes with babies. But I'd like to chime in on the developmental delays.
My daughter is now 14 months, cruising, walking when led (which we try not to do too much), but not standing alone. We also received the "delay" comments when "it was time for her to pull up" and she didn't. In her case it wasn't the lack of time to practice her moves, but rather the size - she was born 11lb/23in and growing since. My humble opinion is that it simply takes more strength and coordination to move a bigger body.
It is difficult not to compare when there are babies of the same age (or younger!) around and they are ALL standing/walking/etc. But as long as she (or Will) is progressing, we should try hard not to do that. They will learn when they are ready.
And I think you're doing a mighty fine job. Hope you'll get some sleep soon.
We have three of those blue bowls, sitting, stacked, on the edge of the tub. The oldest is now almost 9 years old, and I cannot believe we still have it.
I have only been following your blog for a few months, so please forgive me if this is ground you've covered before, but have you considered a food intolerance or allergy issue? It may be worthwhile to -- on top of all the other things you're doing! -- put yourself on a Total Elimination Diet or at least eliminating the top eight or ten allergens to see if that improves. (Will would need to be on the same diet, too, to eliminate confusion.) Of my two children (out of five) who had developmental delays, one had undiagnosed celiac disease and was in continual great pain. I believe, too, that he just didn't have time for all those things like sitting and crawling, because he was spending too much time just coping with misery. It makes my heart sick to think of it. Within a few weeks of him switching to a gluten-free diet, at nearly 14 months, he became "magically" caught up with all the skills which had formerly eluded him.
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