Developmental joy and angst

posted by Jeff | Sunday, July 25, 2010, 1:01 PM | comments: 0

It probably seems like I say this every other day, but I find it remarkable to see Simon doing new things and watching him develop. It's almost a daily occurrence. For example, he's creating new sounds almost every day, and he's as surprised as we are when he makes them. It's also cool to see how his manual dexterity gets better every day. He's getting closer to the point where he can consistently take his pacifier out of his mouth and return it. You can see him look at it, analyze, and figure out how to position it.

Then there's the ugly side of development, which we call teething. While most kids his age don't have the two teeth he does, we're pretty sure that he's ready to pop a few more. As with the last time, the drool volume has increased dramatically, and he's cranky and tired a lot for no obvious reason. It's not fun to see this happy kid be unhappy.

According to some stuff that Diana has been reading, there are a number of these developmental things coming together that may even allow him to sleep overnight. We still swaddle him, because he clearly derives comfort from it (and really, don't we all like to be wrapped up warm and cozy?), and we give him the pacifier because it helps him fall asleep. The problem is that he tends to panic without it, so at some point we need to wean him from both eventually. Having his arms free would be OK if his first instinct weren't to take out the pacifier! But once he gets more coordinated, he can just as easily put it back. Sometimes we want to rush him for our benefit, and we have to remember he's not quite to five months yet.

Seeing a little human develop like this is fascinating when you do it every day. It won't be long before he's walking around, dating and going to college. Gotta enjoy this while we can!


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