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Friday, June 24, 2011

Milestones... the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Amelia is reaching many milestones recently. It’s truly astounding, and one of my favorite parts of parenting. I think it’s amazing to watch her figure out new things and become ever more independent. When I compare her at almost eight months to the newborn days-- Wow. I mean, when they are just born, they can’t do a thing. Hell, if you let go of their little heads, there’s trouble. Compare that to now, when Amelia’s favorite thing is for us to throw her up in the air or let her fall backward in bed. It seems like such a big difference.

So, let’s see. What are some of my favorite things she’s doing right now… Well, sitting up seems like a big one. Jon thinks it’s hilarious to see her sitting on the couch as I’m on the internet or watching TV, her with her rattle. Good stuff. She can stand, but not by herself. Babbling is pretty funny, although I‘m slightly annoyed at her constant DA DA DA DA!!!! all day long when in fact it is MA MA MA MA who is taking care of her all day. I am working on waving with her which thoroughly amuses me. I wave. She stares at my hands. I wave some more. She wiggles her fingers and stares at them with a determined look on her face.

As she gets closer and closer to nine months of age, she is working on crawling. I don’t know how to feel about her impending mobility. This may be my first baby, but I’m no fool. I know that mobility equates to her getting into everything, which will be challenging as it is. Add to that my daughter’s determination (as in getting completely and utterly pissed when she is not allowed to get what she wants), and I am pretty certain that I have many battles in my future. People are constantly warning me about her teenage years, but little do they know that I already have one. She’s just stuck in a baby’s body.

So obviously, I’m pretty on the fence about her crawling. The real milestone that I didn’t know she would already hit is WHINING. Umm, hello, why didn’t anyone warn me that she’d be able to do that at six months of age?!? I thought that was something she wouldn’t be able to achieve until she was talking. At first, I thought it was kind of cute, and definitely more desirable than crying. Now that she’s been working on it for six or seven weeks, she is really getting it down. She starts with a few little whimpers, then increase to actual whining, then LOUD whining which graduates into a curled lip and tears. If she’s tired, she skips the first two steps and goes right into the loud whining. Not endearing at all.

The whining is probably the worst unexpected milestone. Other things that she does that I envision developing into acts of defiance include: looking past me when I‘m talking, shaking her head no, undoing her diaper (well, she can undo half of it, which is bad enough), and smacking things. At some point I’m sure she will figure out that the way to drive Mommy craziest is to combine all of those things into one string of frustrating actions.

She is eating solids, which was only really fun for the first week. Then it just became extra work. No teeth yet, and I’m not sad about it. I love the look of disappointment that crosses people’s faces when they ask if she has any and I say no. Um, I’m nursing here, people, use your imagination about why I’m not looking forward to her little gnashers.

Don’t worry, though… Mommy can roll with the punches.  I’m thinking ahead and have strategies up my sleeve. We are slowly working on baby proofing the house, converting the pack and play to the baby container it was meant to be rather than a changing table, and I’m looking into one of those baby jails large circular baby gates. The whining is pretty easily fixed by increased volume of television or music, sweeping the house, or throwing her in the stroller for a walk. She may be smart, but Mommy plans on being one step ahead.

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