Development Comes With A Price

It's amazing how fast Antonio is developing and moving along. Last week he had his 9 month check up. Everything was great. His doctor was quite impressed with his development. Antonio, being my son, is extremely vocal and made sure to demonstrate this to the good doctor. In addition to mimicking sound, he also mimics gestures. We've been working on bye-bye with him and he does it for the most part. When I leave for work in the mornings, I always wave bye-bye and half the time he waves back. I learned at the doctor visit that he understands this gesture to mean that the person he waves at is leaving. I will explain how I know this. Antonio is a very determined baby and easily let's you know when he does not want to do something. His doctor started the usual check up routine that includes moving Antonio into positions that he hates. During the physical exam, Antonio actually grabbed the doctor's hand twice and pulled it away from his body. When the doctor continued to probe, Antonio slapped his hand. I was shocked. After the exam his doctor sat with us so we could discuss everything and I could ask my questions. About a minute into the conversation, Antonio started waving bye to the doctor. It was the first time I had seen him do the gesture without someone prompting him. I took this to mean it was time, in Antonio's mind, for the good doctor to leave.

 It's not uncommon for Antonio to demonstrate his boredom or lack of desire with something. He will attempt to slide out your arms if he is tired of you holding him. If something is offered to him that he doesn't want he pushes it away, turns his head to the side, or throws his head back while making an unusual grunt. I'm glad he is expressing himself, however, I'm learning that with babies all these great developments come with a price. Example-when I take things away from Antonio he gladly expresses his discontent by throwing himself back. Not good. I've never been fond of temper tantrums and based on current activity my cub will throw lots of them. Antonio is very mobile, crawling and cruising with the best of them. My father gave him this toy that he can push around while standing/walking and Antonio LOVES it. Since Antonio prefers to walk, but can't because he hasn't mastered that balance thing, anything that assists him in walking/standing is his best friend. At first I was thrilled by all the mobility. I mean what mom wouldn't be. Here is the price-Antonio NEVER stays still. I'm constantly running behind him as he cruises from one place to the next, of course getting into things he shouldn't. Bath time is difficult because as you know soap and water make things slippery. Antonio wants to pull to standing while in the tub and explore but the rim of the tub is of course slippery. Bath time last night was an adventure as we tried to keep him seated while he fought us and tried to stand. We then tried one of us helping him stand while the other bathe him but of course our independent cub would have none of that.  He wants to stand on his own. The result is him trying to throw himself back to let us know he doesn't approve of our assistance. I of course am frightened by him doing that because we are in the tub where he could seriously hurt himself. I'm learning to be careful of what I wish for. I think I am ready for him to talk but who knows what the flip side of that joy will be.

 The video below will be boring to most but to a me the mom I love it. Excuse my house I have a 9 month old. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Also, this was taken a couple of weeks back when Antonio was transitioning from the military crawl to what is normally expected of a crawl. Now he moves like lightening and tries to push up onto his legs to standing. They move too fast.