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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

By the books

When Emme began consistently rolling over recently, I did something I almost never did with Oliver -- I looked at the milestone chart for kids. And then I became curious about where both kids are based on this chart.

According to the milestone chart for babies, Emme should at four months be able to:

Keep head up and steady -- For sure. She's been doing this for a while.
Bear wear on legs -- Same. I think she'll be really happy when he feet reach the bottom of the Exersaucer.
Make cooing sounds in response to your talk. -- Yep. She's a babbler, for sure.

"Still learning" and "rare" skills at four months:

Can grasp a toy. -- Yes, but it's not intentional, and she can't let go even if she wants to.
Reaches out to touch or grab objects. -- Not really. She is probably close to having a little control over her arms and being to touch or grab things intentionally, but she's definitely not there yet.
Rolls over. -- Yes! She usually likes it, too; it doesn't scare her like it did at first.
Imitates sounds and speech. -- Not that I can tell.
First tooth may show up. -- Possibly. She drools SO much, so I wouldn't be surprised. Ollie's first tooth came in between 4-5 months, I think.
May be ready for solids. -- Not in my opinion. She's growing fine and is totally satisfied by breast milk, so I won't rush this one. I will ask the pediatrician next week if she suggests starting some basics before six months, as I've recently heard it can help cut down on potential food allergies.

Looking at other months, there's only a few things she can already do. She can roll in both directions (milestone for 6 months), recognizes and turns to look at the source of new sounds ("still learning" for 5 months), and reaches for objects and puts them in mouth ("still learning" for 6 months) -- but this last one pretty rarely. As busy as Oliver was, I definitely see her developing a little faster at a lot of these things. I know all kids are different, and this may change at some point, but it's funny to me to see this little person doing things so much sooner -- and she's "little" not necessarily because she's younger than he was but because she's so much physically smaller than he was at the same age. Oh, and of course, she has a smaller head.

As for Ollie, the milestone chart for children says he should be able to:

Stack up to six blocks to make a tower. -- Check.
Know at least six body parts by name. -- He can sing all of "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" while pointing to the parts. Plus he knows the proper name for his genitalia (and that daddy has one, too, but not mommy), his butt, and other random parts. He also knows which piggy went to market, if that's important.
Throws ball overhand. -- Yep. Sometimes the ball goes backwards when he does it, but it is overhand.

As for "still learning" or "rare" skills at 32 months:

Puts on a T-shirt on his own. -- Sure. He sometimes has problems and needs help, but not usually.
Can keep balance on each foot for a moment or two. -- I think so but will have to check tomorrow for sure.
Learns to brush teeth on his own. -- He knows what to do, and we always let him brush first before we have our "turn."
Calls friends by name. -- Definitely. We get a run down of who was in daycare and what everyone did on the way home each day. Today Curtis played with Oliver's tractor, and he wanted it back to put away. He was still a little bothered by this. Maybe because Curtis is new, I'm not sure.
Washes and dries hands on his own. -- Yes.
Can use up to two adjectives in one sentence. -- I think so. I can't name a specific example, but his language has developed a lot in the last few weeks even. His word use and conversational skills have really improved, and his intonation, facial expressions, and gestures crack me up.

Looking at older years on the chart for Ollie, he definitely is well ahead on social and emotional development and much of the language development (his pronunciation and enunciation can be poor at times, but if what I repeat back to him isn't what he said, he'll try over and over again until I understand what he's saying). The kinds of things he can't do yet have to do with holding a pencil correctly, drawing basic shapes, cutting with scissors, all of which sound like fine motor skills.

I know these charts aren't the final say on whether kids are behind or possibly more developed than their peers, but it's fun to compare and see what they should be doing. So long as they seem like they're still developing (present participle), I'm happy.

Roller girl

Emme can officially roll over in both directions. She will be four months on Friday, so this is definitely on time or even a little early for her (this is a "rare" skill for a 3-month-old or something "still learning" for a 4-month-old; it's not a common milestone until 6 months). She's been rolling easily from her belly to her back for at least two weeks now, and in the last few days, I've seen (or missed) her rolling from her back to her belly. My sister claims she did this back in March. I was upstairs packing for us to leave for home the next day and missed it all. My mother-in-law also said she did it several weeks ago. But it's not until now that I've actually been able to either see it or confirm that she went down on one side and I found her on the other. It's a fun development, of course, but it does ruin my efforts to get her to sleep on her belly in the hopes that it would help her settle more quickly. Of course, it also makes it a little safer to put her anywhere on her belly since she has the ability to get off.

The last few months have flown by, mostly because of how busy things have been around here. But I know looking at Emme -- still little, still a baby, still a lot of months left to nurse and cuddle and tote around -- that time has passed and almost certainly too quickly.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

A mommy and me day

Today was a special day for Oliver and me. Since I had the day off (I'm between the end of the semester and the beginning of my Maymester class) and had the babysitter (who we pay for set hours regardless), I decided to spend the whole day with Oliver, just doing fun things together. I probably could have taken him to run errands with me and he would've loved it. We probably could have stayed home and played in the backyard all day (although there were two babies inside with the sitter, so that seemed like a bad idea). But I wanted to do things I knew would be difficult or less fun with Emme in tow. And with that -- and the nice weather -- in mind, I made a plan.

Ollie was up this morning about 7:30am, and we got a shower. Once Hailey was here and I was ready to leave the house, we walked to Frothy Monkey for hot chocolate. Oliver asked to bring Cookie Monster along, and for once I relented to let him leave the house. Our neighbor's dog came down to sniff us and showed some interest in Cookie, which made Ollie nervous. We sat on the couch in Frothy sipping our hot chocolate while Oliver asked me about everyone else there. Cookie even got a sip. We walked home and got in the car to head to Murfreesboro, where we went to the Children's Discovery Center. It's one of those children's museum/learning center/play spaces all in one. The downstairs has a fire engine and an aquarium with turtles in it and an area with rocks that kids can "excavate" for fossils. There's a big water play area where kids can learn about waves and aquaducts. There's a play house and shop and a tot area with a music store, Home Depot, post office, play house, and grocery store (a Kroger!). The upstairs has a big "Wheels" exhibit with a car that kids can service, a coal mine section, and lots of other things we didn't even explore. We were there about two hours, skipped the outdoor walking area around some manmade wetlands, and played briefly on the small playground. After our first (and last) ever lunch at Zaxby's, we headed back to Nashville, about a 30-40 minute drive. I actually took my nursing cover and pumped on the drive back (and was very happy not to have had an accident or been stopped by a policeman). Oliver, as I expected, fell dead asleep.

I had given him a few options for what to do in the afternoon, and he asked to go the playground at the zoo. He was asleep when we got there, so I called Wes to chat for a few minutes, at which point he woke up. He was sluggish at the zoo but still having fun. We were at the zoo for probably a little more than an hour. We saw the macaws and the crane, played on the playground, got a chocolate soft serve ice cream cone, rode the tiger on the carousel, and fed the lorikeets. By then it was time to head home, with a detour at Home Depot for bird food. Unfortunately, when I got to the car, I realized my wallet was missing. I thought briefly that it had been stolen but thought it strange that they would have left a camera and phone but taken a wallet. I decided to go back in the park to see if I had left it at the cafe where I'd bought the ice cream cone. I didn't have my zoo membership card, though (obviously), and when I told the person at the ticket counter that my wallet had disappeared, he directed me to the information counter. Mercifully, it was already there. I don't know whether I left it at the cafe or some kind person found it and turned it in, but I was beyond grateful to not have to deal with having lost my ID and all my various cards.

At this point it was too late to get our bird food, so Oliver and I braved the crazy traffic (4pm on Thursday?) and headed home. We got back to find Emme cooing and smiling on her playmat in the living room, having evidently had a pleasant day herself. The afternoon and evening were spent swinging on the couch, doing puzzles in the living room, and just hanging out. Cookie got hungry, so Oliver fed him the remainder of one of Emme's bottle (and when that ran out, nursed him a bit). Ollie started acting out as the evening wore on, but he did fine through dinner. Afterwards, though, he was obviously just worn out. Once I got Emme down in her crib (though unfortunately, not for the last time), I took Ollie up, got his pajamas on him, read him a new book from Grandma, and said goodnight. This, I might add, was just before 7pm.

I have no idea what time Oliver will be up tomorrow morning, and I have no idea if he saw any difference between today and other days. I hope that I get to keep having "mommy and me" days with him (and Emme) over the years, though. Siblings are great, and all kids need to know how to get along without the undivided interest of their parents, but there's something special about getting a day (or at least eight hours) all to yourself -- both for him and for me.