Sometimes I can’t decide if Claire is incredibly lazy, extremely stubborn, exceptionally clever, or all of the above.
Case in point: she never rolls anymore. I know that she is physically capable of doing it, because I have seen her purposely roll both ways several times. But I also know that she does not enjoy it.
Hence, whenever she is in a horizontal position — whether on her back or stomach — she will only withstand it for however long she pleases…then the whining and screaming begins.
(On a related note, did you know that psychologists believe whining may be the world’s most annoying sound?)
No matter how long we try to ignore it, do our best to guide her to roll, sit up on her own, etc, she refuses to budge once she is in this state. It’s like she knows that if she screams long enough, someone is eventually bound to come pick her up.
The upside to her refusing to roll anymore is that we have never had an instance where she screams in the middle of the night, begging to be rescued from whatever precarious/uncomfortable position she has arranged herself in.
Our next challenge comes with crawling. Yes, my daughter will turn 9 months old next week and she is not crawling. She shows no interest in crawling either — believe me, I’ve tried.
I’ve watched YouTube videos on instructing your baby to crawl. I have asked other mothers for advice. I place her favorite toys all around her, just out of reach, so that she needs to at least make the first attempts at crawling in order to get to them.
Do you know what she does instead? She will pull on the blanket/sheet/rug under her and the toys and use it to pull the toys toward her. Or she will use whatever else that is within reach and use that to guide the toys her way.
Last week, I gave her a bottle of pills to distract her for a few minutes while I was on an important phone call. When she couldn’t get the child safety-equipped cap off, she started to drag the edge of the cap against other larger objects around her — a book, her toy mirror, and even poor Comang — as if she were trying to use them as leverage to pop the cap open.
And just now, because a friend had told me that her son had gotten motivated to crawl after seeing other kids crawl, I put her down on the floor in a crawling position and started to crawl myself.
“See, baby?” I said as I started crawling back and forth in front of her. “This is how you crawl…”
She took one look at me and started cracking up. She laughed so hard that she fell from the crawling position, down onto her stomach. As I watched her little body shake uncontrollably in laughter, I couldn’t help but feel like a complete idiot.
I give up. Maybe she’ll be like J and his brother, who never crawled and went straight to walking.
P.S. — I’m a few days late, but here is the Father’s Day e-card we made for J. She was extremely afraid of the balloons, so it took quite some time to get these two photos.
Elyssa
Isn’t one of the upsides of not having her crawling is the lack of annoying baby-proofing you’ve had to do? 🙂
Geek in Heels
Very true! We haven’t done ANY baby-proofing yet and we’re not looking forward to it. (J actually jokes that he will be the one who has trouble opening drawers/doors, prying safety caps off electrical outlets, etc.)
Nass
Hey! Just to chip in as a mom of two-she’ll get there when she is ready!! I know you know that but I think it is nothing to do with stubbornness or laziness. Babies are people and people learn and grow in different ways and at different speeds. The ability to do something isn’t the only factor in the process.. I know the milestone websites can be stressful, but really, they mostly all get there in the end! She is adorable and I sure she is absorbing so very much all the time!
Geek in Heels
We’re actually not that worried about crawling, since my husband (and his brother) never crawled and I only crawled for a week at 11 months before I started walking. In other words, I know that we won’t be carrying her into her first day of kindergarten. 😉 Claire’s been behind on most of her gross motor skills milestones since she was born, but she’s ahead in fine motor skills so I know it’s no cause for concern. The only reason I am encouraging her to crawl is because: (1) it helps pass the time; and (2) there are new studies stating that babies who never crawl may have trouble with advanced motor functions later in life. But then again, my husband and his brother never had any physical problems so who knows?
LHR
this made me laugh! oh, the things we do for our kids. they are geniuses, i tell you.
Geek in Heels
Totally. I fear for the day when she will begin talking back to me. Or worse, her teenage years.
Coasting anon
“She will pull on the blanket/sheet/rug under her and the toys and use it to pull the toys toward her”
That’s exactly what little G did. He scooted at 11months, crawled at 15 and walked at 17. She’ll get there.
Geek in Heels
My MIL tells us that not only did my husband never crawl, he didn’t start walking until he was 18 months old. So I think I’ll give her until then to begin worrying. 🙂
Courtney
My daughter didn’t crawl until she was 13.5 months old. Instead, she sat on her butt and used her left arm and right leg to butt-scoot along the floor. As seen here in this video of her at almost 12 months old:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzxscFONAy4
Even once she finally did actually crawl on all fours, she still preferred to butt-scoot.
I think it had something to do with living in a place with laminate floors- too slippery for crawling, better for scooting- because when she finally did crawl, it was at a place that was fully carpeted.
Once she mastered that, though, she made us wait forever to walk. She didn’t walk until 15 months old- the evening after her 15 month peds appointment where we talked to the doctor about her not walking!
Now she’s being stubborn with talking. She knows everything we say, she just won’t use her words. Holding out trying to force her to ask for something using the words results in tears. We even had her evaluated for early intervention and she didn’t qualify. While her speech was, apparently, average for her age (even though all the bloggers I read with kids her age report use of lots of words), but her comprehension was several months advanced. Go figure.
It is SOOOO hard not to get worried about babies reaching milestones, isn’t it?!
Geek in Heels
Ohmygoodness, that video is priceless! She looks so cute butt-scooting!
We’ve also considered our flooring a possible contributor to Claire refusing to crawl — we have hardwood floors and the only semi “soft,” non-slippery spots are the tiny rug in her room and her 16 sqft playmat.
And yes, I agree that it’s hard not to get worried, esp when everyone else seems to be talking about how their kids are already doing this and that. Ironically, these are usually the people who complain about their kids growing up too fast, whereas in my case, I can’t wait for her to grow up!
Jessica
I hear that they crack up when we do “unexpected” things. Like, Mommy usually walks upright, and watching her crawl around is hilarious to babies that age. My 8-month-old thinks it’s just the funniest thing when we fall to the ground, or crawl around really quickly, or move in unusual ways. So…. she’s not *exactly* laughing at you!