2 July 2012
Balance
Two parenting truisms have most notably proven themselves over the past couple of months: that a) children’s development can be disarmingly non-linear, so it is normal (if frustrating) for them to, say, roll over, then completely lose interest in repeating that feat for another couple of months; and b) that everything evens itself out at some point, so when your dedicated 35-minute-napper gets too grossly overtired he will eventually randomly conk out for three hours in the middle of an afternoon, leaving you thrilled but also kind of wishing that you could have gotten some sort of forewarning, because you totally could have used that time to watch a movie.
My mom was visiting last week while Pete was out of town at a conference, and Theo was pretty tired and fussy the entire time. She, in the classical grandparental mold, thinks that he’s wonderful no matter what, but most of our activities were accompanied by a rising and falling soundtrack of whines and grunts of general malaise.
Fast forward to the night before she left, when I realized that Theo’s been so tired because he’s been up for half the night wiggling and kicking and twisting his way in circles around his crib, despite the boot-like hobbling of his triple-padded nighttime diaper. Another day after that, and he simultaneously mastered rolling in both directions, sitting up for short periods without support, some sort of extra dexterity that allows him to grapple with a half-full 32-ounce Nalgene bottle, and earsplitting screeches of joy at the sheer thrill of it all.
Yup, it all evens itself out at the end.
Thank you for sharing this! My son has been going through a LONG fussy period. (Which is an optimistic way of saying that he’s simply not “a happy baby” by nature.) My mom and aunt insist that it’s a sign that he’s smart and easily bored and that he’ll be happier when he becomes more mobile and he’s able to explore the world on his own. (Which is an even more optimistic perspective.) But in the meantime, he fretfully demands that we move him from swing-to-playmat-to-jumperoo-to-swing-to-playmat-to-jumperoo every 10 minutes.
Since N was born a month and a half early, it just seems like we have had an EXTRA LONG experience of fussy infancy, and it’s wearing on me. I do remember that my daughter started to develop new skills by leaps and bounds around six months. And so it’s reassuring to hear that Theo has reached that stage, because it means that my son shouldn’t be far behind!
knwd, you bring up a related issue — the background parental fretting that maybe he’ll be fretful and fussy forever! But I’m pretty a cranky and laugh-resistant adult, which is… surprisingly helpful for me to keep in mind whenever Theo’s experiencing existential baby angst, because at least I know that being slightly temperamental does not preclude the development of, say, social graces and the ability to make friends.
We also have been through what sounds like the exact same swing-to-playmat-to-jumperoo circuit of baby impatience, and I will say — that though we’re not completely clear of it yet, particularly when we’re stuck inside and T’s feeling tired — he hung out on the floor and happily played with his toys for 45 minutes straight this weekend. It was amazing! I hope that it happens to you sometime soon, too.
What a wonderful picture! He is sure getting cute!