If you have a baby when you have rarely been around infants, if ever, everything your baby does can seem so clever. Whenever you see your baby do something new, he’s ‘advanced’ – especially when you don’t know when all of the developmental stages are supposed to happen, or the books tell you ‘averages’ that are later than your child has developed them, but don’t necessarily mean anything.
It wasn’t until after Doyle lost his walking reflex that I discovered there was even such a thing as a walking reflex. You’re only ever really told about the sucking reflex and the startle reflex.
Never mind when specific developmental stages are meant to occur, it is always absolutely amazing to see your child do something new for the first time and know they have done it deliberately and they’re learning about their environment.
My son is now at the stage where he’ll see things and want to grab at them, hold them, play with them. He’ll get frustrated when he can’t reach things he wants to hold. And today he properly rolled over from his tummy to his back. He also absolutely adores somersaulting backwards off my lap.
In the last few months I have learned to ignore averages and comparing my son to other babies. Every baby develops at his own pace, and the most important thing to do is enjoy every moment as it arises.
Dominica May 