What A Year #3 - Mobility

We've had quite the journey with mobility in this house.  From those early moments of fear when Gracie wouldn't hold her head up to the ridiculous coaxing of both children to learn to roll over well before they were ready...we started early with the mobility paranoia around here.  I remember the first time Grace rolled over. I was holding Caleb by the back door and had noticed Grace starting to rock while she was down on her play mat.  She rocked a couple of times to her side, stopped, and then all of a sudden just rolled right over. I grabbed the camera, rolled her back, and filmed her doing it again! It was so anti-climactic and so exciting all at once.  She just...did it.  All of that time we spent trying to coax her into it. And then, she just rolled.

Things got a little more interesting when we started to notice a bit of a separation showing up between Caleb and Grace and their quest for mobility.  She sat up before him, although he was working on it just a month or so after her.  He started rolling about a month after her as well, maybe two.  But then the split really started.  Once he sat up, he was pretty happy.  Grace was ready to rock and roll and figured out crawling within weeks.  Then pulling up, then cruising, and then just today I watched Grace actually walk without falling over or squatting down to crawl for a good amount of time! She just wanted to walk!

All the while, little Caleb sat next to us and watched...and chewed on his all-time-favorite toy (his keys).  I'm not quite sure whether he's really getting frustrated or is pretty content to be where he is right now- I go back and forth on it.  Sometimes he seems pretty upset, like he knows that he isn't getting the most out of the playroom.  Sometimes he seems oblivious to it and pretty happy to be slobbering like a mad man all over whatever toy happens to be nearby. 

Nonetheless, we have a bit of a divide in our house right now.  We may always have a bit of a divide...our children are their own people and they have their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.  They are completely unique and individual.  We cannot fit them into one box.

With this divide in mobility, though, comes a bit of a quandary.  Grace can very easily steal a toy from Caleb (or a binky) and wander far enough away that he has no chance at recouping this valuable commodity.  She's also taken to the run-by-swatting.  She will crawl up to him, tug on his arm/shirt/head to pull herself into a stand, steal whatever toy he is thoroughly enjoying, and swat him over the head with it before promptly leaving the scene (or lingering and swatting him more until she gets a reaction out of him or Mommy/Daddy come and remove her from the situation).  This is not a practice I want to see continue.  Especially because of the inherent divide within our house in regards to mobility.  He just can't really defend himself when she can swoop in so quickly and then retreat just as fast. 

Oh the questions of parenthood. 

I didn't get to hang with the babies too much today.  I went into the office and Ben stayed home with them (after taking baby duty last night cuz he's a rockstar...apparently they were up eight times wanting binkies. Not.cool.).  I got home around 5:00 and then we needed to quickly pack them up and take Daddy to get his car from the shop (hundreds of dollars later, of course).  Then, we got home and had a babysitter stop by so I could meet her and make sure she was ok to help us out tomorrow and Friday because our new nanny, Julie, informed me that she jumped the gun on saying she could start tomorrow and she won't be able to start until Monday. Oy.  It's never easy, is it?  Luckily one of my team members at work heard that I was in search for a nanny and let me know his daughter had experience. When I told him I had actually just hired someone but was in need of some back-up care, he gave me her number.  Luckily she was available to help for four hours tomorrow and Friday.  They will be short and hectic days in the office, but it's better than nothing. Both Ben and I need to go in, we have a ton of work that the last couple of weeks have left neglected and can't afford to be out anymore full days.  Plus, I have to pack up my entire desk to move to a new building by Friday night.  I'm not really sure how this will be possible, but I don't have much of a choice. 

I will say that the few minutes I had with the babies in between picking up the car at the shop and meeting the nanny were fabulous.  I threw both of them up into the air countless times (our physical therapist told us that it's actually good for Caleb- spacial awareness!) and watched them both giggle with excitement.  Grace actually gets mad when I throw Caleb because she wants a turn and Caleb gets a bit irritated as well when I'm playing with Grace! I fed them both dinner and then we put them down without much trouble.  We'll see how my night turns out tonight...I'd love a good one!

4/10/12

4/10/12 (Hand, Foot, and Mouth debacle!)



 

They're just such little kids now, right???