Stunting her growth 11 March 2010
Yesterday I laid WB on her tummy for some tummy time. Her arms were initially stuck behind her a bit and as she wiggled to position them in front of her she pushed hard with the right and almost rolled over. She probably would have made it all the way and hit that first mobility milestone except for one thing. ME. How so? Because I reached out my hand AND STOPPED HER. I even muttered to myself, “No, No, little baby. No learning that trick.”
WB is 5 months old. This is a normal range for the rolling milestone. Maybe a bit on the earlier side, but not unusual. Rolling at 7 or 8 months isn’t unusual either. And that, I’ve decided, fits better into my timetable of acceptable baby milestones.
See, TW and I are still in school. We finish our MBA degrees in 3 months. JUST 3 MORE MONTHS! And honestly, having a non-mobile baby makes doing the double homework duty doable. (there’s a lot of “d”s in that phrase, huh?) We lay her down on the floor in the room with us, then we sit at the computer and pound the keyboards. She plays happily IN ONE SPOT. It’s nice. It’s safe. It’s admittedly convenient.
We’ve joked with family and friends about stunting WB’s development until we finish school. I guess I just feel a teensy bit guilty that the joke has now become reality. It probably makes me a bad parent. Most likely it makes me a selfish one too. But maybe, just maybe, it makes me a smart one? Delaying her mobility just a bit until I have full attention for her…
In any case, I justify my move with the fact that the near-roll was probably accidental on WB’s part–she wasn’t REALLY meaning to make that maneuver anyway. Right?
I understand that for most babies, the first rollover is a surprise to them.