1.10.2005

Milestones and Toddler fun

Megan is beginning to hit those milestones you're supposed to jot down in a baby book somewhere. She rolled herself over for the first time last night. She may not do it again for a while I know - Logan did this to us. He flipped himself over on Election Day 2002 and then took a multi-week hiatus from the task. OR, Megan may not take a break. She's been practicing the art of the roll for weeks now by getting herself up on her side and she was thrilled with her success once she got past the shock of it. Logan, however, insists that she did not "roll-over" since she didn't return to her belly once getting on to her back. Silly boy.

Megs also began her venture into baby food. She started this weekend with watered down rice cereal. The girl is in heaven with her new treat. She laughs and flops her arms with glee as she opens wide for a spoonful of that tastless paste. Logan also enjoys helping to feed her. He does a few spoons each time she eats and he claps for her as she manages to keep the vast majority of it in her mouth. Occasionally she likes to steal the spoon from him. She waves it around, high above her head, like weapon to brandish. She gets rice cereal in her wee baby hair. She gets rice down her cheeks. She gets it on her nose and sometimes even in her eye. But at least she gets the spoon in her mouth, at which points she sighs contently and sucks away on it.

Each time she does this spoon take-over with Logan he laughs and declares that she's such a big girl that can feed herself now. Then he wants the spoon back so he holds his hand out - palm facing upwards - and says to her "Give. Megan give. Come on girl, give." This, of course, is the same thing we've taught him to say to one of the dogs (ours and Grandma's) when he wants them to give up a ball or toy.

I'm finding that I've not yet compared milestones between the two kids before they occur. It wasn't until Meg rolled that it dawned on me she did so a few weeks prior to Logan rolling for the first time. This is somewhat reassuring. For a while I've worrid about how we'd view Meg's milestones in comparison to the little over-achiever that is my son. Will we have a grasp on what a normal development path is if she follows that trend and not the early verbality her brother did? Will we worry if she's not walking when he did? Will we compare?

Granted to date we're only talking about cooing, smiling, laughing and rolling. And, to date she's hitting those marks at the same time as big brother if not, as with rolling, a wee bit before. Who is to say what lies ahead. All I do know is that these 'firsts' are no less exciting the second time around. I was so thrilled to see Megan get herself around yesterday. In fact, I think I was even MORE excited then when Logan did it the first time because this time I had a real clear idea of what it meant. . .that it was just the first real building block for mobility.

Of course on the other hand, I find that these early milestones make me feel like she's grown up so fast. The first time around, rolling just meant my baby had a new trick. This time it means my baby is rolling away from being my baby. It means that she's moving fast from that newborn helpless stage to the more independent toddler stage. Ok, sure, she's just shy of four months but it goes so fast and each milestone just propels her closer to that new stage of her life. Each new ability takes her one more step away from where she started her life.

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