Milestones

Well, I'm in trouble. H is getting precariously close to crawling. I have done everything humanly possible to prevent/delay this milestone, but to no avail. She keeps getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth and I know any day she is going to figure out that one last detail of propulsion. A day I dread, to be sure.

It's not that I hope to hold back my children indefinitely. In fact, I wasn't always this way. When D was an infant, I religiously read every baby and childrearing book or magazine I ran across. I memorized the details of each expected milestone and panicked if D hadn't reached them by the earliest end of the age range. I did everything I could to encourage milestones like rolling, crawling, walking, talking...

By the time M came along I didn't have the time or necessity to read and memorize all those details, but certainly when I realized other 8 month olds were crawling, I worked with her to accomplish the task....putting toys just out of her reach, helping her get into the right position, getting on the floor and encouraging her in her efforts.

The third time around I have no need, nor desire, to hurry these developments. A crawling baby means baby gates. A crawling baby means tiny legos left on the floor will be found and ingested. A crawling baby means a lot of extra work for a mommy. And for that, I am in no hurry!