Being Sara

Now that Xander is motoring around the house at impressive speeds, his shins have started to get bruised. Last night I was looking at his legs I realized that this is going to be a permanent state of affairs for the next several years - I can’t think of a little kid who doesn’t have bruised shins on a regular basis. And that made me sad - it’s starting already, he’s turning into a little boy, and soon I’ll start to forget what bruise-free shins look like.

Speaking of bruises, boy is Xander turning into a bruiser! He doesn’t realize that he can hurt other people, but he’s learned how to pinch, and slap, and if you’re not paying attention, a well-placed head butt from the boy could give you a bloody nose! I keep trying to teach him “gentle” and mimic the behavior for him, but it’s not sinking in yet - any suggestions?

baby, babies, parent, parents, parenting, 10 months, crawl, crawling, shin, shins, bruised shins

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For quite a while we wondered if Xander would ever crawl, or if he would just skip straight to walking. For the past few weeks, he has gotten very close to crawling, but his balance is getting better, and he’s on the verge of cruising along on furniture. So, when he figured out how to crawl this week, we were happy, and surprised. Xander finally figured out that he can move around under his own power.

This means more hands free time for Zach and me, but more time keeping Xander away from things that he shouldn’t put in his mouth, or things that might topple onto him, etc. Xander has also discovered that everything in our house that isn’t a toy is much more fun to play with than the large box of toys he’s got. Since we can’t put our kid in a bubble, I feel like I’m constantly chasing him around trying to make sure that the rest of the world doesn’t hurt him - it’s keeping me quite busy!

Zach and I spent yesterday baby-proofing as much our house as we could - safety gates, safety knobs, corner protectors, safety plugs, and wires to attach large objects to the walls. I feel like we did a pretty good job, but we’re new at this, and Xander isn’t home to test all of this stuff out yet and show us how much we have to learn when it comes to baby-proofing…

I’ve heard people say that your world changes when you have a baby, and then your world changes again when your baby starts to move. I can certainly agree with the first part, and given the safety gates and knobs I’m now navigating through, I’m guessing there is some truth to the second part, though I haven’t had quite enough experience with it yet to have a definitive answer.

babies, baby, baby development, baby gates, baby proofing, baby safety, babyproofing, crawl, crawling, infant, infants, motherhood, parent, parenting, parents, safety gates

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If you are a regular reader of my blog (or a friend or family member who talks to me regularly), then you’ll know that Xander’s lack of interest in rolling has been a source of frustration for me. When he was 3 months old, I was all ready for it. When he passed 4 months and still refused, I was a little concerned. At 6 months when he continued to fuss and cry when on his belly, and still wouldn’t roll on his own, I started to worry. Our doctor allieviated most of my concerns - Xander was on target for every other developmental milestone, and according to him, some babies skip rolling over, and sometimes even crawling.

So, I mostly stopped worrying, and didn’t focus so much on it while playing with Xander. Then yesterday Xander rolled over all by himself! He was lying on his back on the floor and we were playing with some of his toys - he saw a toy he wanted over to his side (so I dangled it out of his reach), and he rolled over to get it! I was so surprised, and so excited for him Once he’s on his belly he can push up and get into a crawling position, but his muscles aren’t strong enough to hold him up there very long, and he still really doesn’t enjoy being on his stomach, so it doesn’t take long before he gets frustrated, then upset, and then really angry if we don’t pick him up.

Unfortunately Zach wasn’t home for this initial roll over, but Xander did show off his new accomplishment this morning for Zach, so that was nice. I suppose it won’t be long now before Xander is getting into everything, and I imagine that the word “no” will soon become a household staple…

baby,babies, infant, infants, parent, parents, parenting, baby development, roll over, rolling over, crawling, crawl, infant development

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