She Did It Early! by Heather Bowles

Good morning, ladies! I hope you don’t mind, but I feel the need to brag on my girl today, because she has started doing something early! I hadn’t really realized it was early a couple weeks ago when she first did it. I just thought she was being her sweet self, but her occupational therapist is impressed, so that counts for something, right? So, what is she doing?

When she started walking, she also started reaching for things. Things which up until then had been far out of her reach: pencils. Paper clips. Bobby pins. Neatly stacked file folders full of well organized tax forms. She’s got her pincer grasp down to a science. Naturally, all these things found their way to her mouth, or in the case of the files, spilled all over the floor. That’s when I started asking, “May I have it, please?” And she responded appropriately! 

When I hold my upturned palm out to her, she will now give me whatever she is holding, usually with no hesitation, and the important part, at least to her therapist, is that she actually lets go. I suppose everything has it’s developmentally appropriate time, and maybe it really is sooner than should be expected, but I have no practical awareness of when a lot of the early milestones are supposed to take place. To me? She’s just being polite and compliant, which she has always been. Her eagerness to please me has made her needs obvious to discern and it makes her an easy baby to care for.

But… I am learning not to take little things for granted, and when someone tells me my daughter is doing something early? I get excited. She’s late for so many other things… now, can someone please explain how I am supposed to feed her a birthday cake with no teeth? 

Tags: fine motor skills, infant milestones, politeness