Baby Included

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

One Small Step

Around the one year mark, the biggest milestone for any baby will be when they take their first step. All of the aunts and uncles are always asking, "Is he walking yet?" From a parent's point of view, I believe it's natural to want your child to advance quickly; I'd rather he graduate college in three years rather than four because that will save me a lot of money. Sure it would be nice if he started walking at a year old, but then I always ask myself, "What's the rush?" If I've already baby proofed everything below my knee, walking would just mean more things to be pulled down, or more things for Baby to hit his head into.

Regardless of what anyone hopes for, I've realized progression happens very quickly. Milestones become stepping stones. As soon as Baby started crawling, he was climbing days after that. When he started cruising, he was quickly walking with support.

This past weekend, he started standing on his own.

"Now who's your Daddy?!"

Taking baby steps, we then took Baby for a walk on the Coney Island boardwalk for a test run. (He sat on some gum on the boardwalk during a tumble.)

By dinnertime, he was taking his first steps all by himself, albeit a little wobbly, but taking meter-long walks on his own two feet.

"Do I still need to wear these silly 'sock' things?"

Now Baby has discovered the ultimate form of locomotion, short from getting his driver's license. If we come for a visit, keep your valuables out of reach, since he'll likely grab something off your coffee table, put it in his mouth, and walk away with it now, a.k.a. "eat and run." As parents, we'll have to bring up our endurance levels to keep up with two chubby, rapidly moving legs. But on the bright side, Baby can start bringing Mommy her slippers, and Daddy his beer, if we can get him to walk to us on command.
"I can't wait to do chores for Daddy!*"
* Slightly edited from actual thought



Monday, May 4, 2009

"No" Means... Huh?

With age comes wisdom. When you’re one year old, you have a lot of wisdom to accumulate. Accumulating wisdom to a baby means getting your hands on anything you can reach. With the all that crawling, reaching, and pulling, that inevitably all leads to one necessary thing: discipline.

Discipline is a topic I never thought I'd think about until the day came that I caught my kid stealing money from my wallet.
"If I blend into this couch, maybe Daddy won't see me."

But apparently discipline is something they need to learn much, much earlier on. To keep Baby away from dangerous things, like those pretty bottles under the kitchen sink, or large appliances, requires strict discipline.
Baby is determined to find his missing sock.

If Baby barely understands “da da,” how do you teach a baby “don’t do that or I’ll have to call poison control?” The experts suggest a firm “no” and then physically move him away from the area of offense. The two things I’m observing so far by doing this:
  • Pulling Baby away from danger, whether I pick him up or drag him by his legs, both result in fun rides for him, so he may be purposely doing the wrong things just so I drag him away.
  • When I relocate Baby, he’s immediately distracted by something else, so when I think he is being disciplined, in reality he probably just forgot, until he does it again the next day
"I'm not supposed to wha- wow, this can is hilarious!"

The professionals say that instead of constantly telling your baby "no," put him in an area where he can't get in trouble, also known as a "yes" area. If you're constantly saying "no" to your child, they will also eventually become desensitized to it, and that all-important word will lose all its meaning.
Baby in his "Maybe" area.

Things to say "no" to:
  • Stuffing one's face:
"Harumph mooma!"
  • Taking off one's pants and socks and throwing them on the floor when everyone thinks you're sleeping:
"I feel so freeeeeee!"