Saturday, January 21, 2006

eventually

sometimes i feel as though the reason the little dude isn't more advanced is my fault. i know every mother probably has crazy delusions like this, but sometimes it's hard to remember that.

the little dude is 13 months old and can finally stand (when he chooses) on his own, but seems to have no intention of walking anytime soon. he still doesn't say anything except for "maa mah" and "daa dah". he's always been a little bit of a late bloomer....not rolling over until 9 months, but then practically crawling the next day. it seems he just really has to get these things down in his mind before he will attempt to do them physically. so needless to say, i've been having some "mommy anxiety" about these things lately. "maybe i'm not spending enough time with him....maybe i'm not spending the time teaching him things i should" yada, yada, yada. the list goes on and on.

but then....last night we were getting the little dude ready for bed. usually he stays in the living room with one of us, while the other one makes the bottle. if he comes with us he just whines until it's ready, so we try to avoid that. instead of going to the kitchen to get his bedtime bottle, i asked him, "where's your bottle?" "show mommy where your bottle is." not only did he lead me through the house from the living room to the kitchen, but when we got there he stopped, planted his butt on the ground and pointed directly to the cupboard above where we keep his bottles.

all those "mommy anxieties" instantly melted away. i know he "gets it", he's just taking his time to show us.

4 comments:

Dear Monday said...

don't worry, they understand more than you realize. he'll be running in no time and repeating little words from the tv! :) it's the neatest thing.

patricia zapata said...

I think we all go through the "mommy anxieties". Our son didn't attempt to crawl until 11 months and my daughter was lazy with the walking thing. As far as the speech one day it will finally come pouring out. Little ones just decide to do things in their own sweet time.

Anonymous said...

My daughter, who's 5, didn't walk until she was 12 1/2 or 13 1/2 mos old.

My son, who crawls army-style everywhere, is 11 mos and shows no interest in taking steps or walking.

I don't think we can make them do anything until they're good and ready.

I also think boys develop faster than girls, but I never would have thought that until I had them to compare!

Leslie said...

Oh, L!
I had MAJOR anxiety with my son (actually I still do). . . he didn't walk until. . .

. . .until NINETEEN MONTHS!

He didn't crawl until FOURTEEN MONTHS.

He runs like mad now. . .all kids have their own timelines, and I have to tell myself to stop comparing him to his big sis! I'm still concerned about his speech -- but the doc says he'll be okay. But it doesn't stop me from worrying! :)

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