I Guess Children Do Things When They Want!

As a new parent you tend to do a lot of research looking for that all important timeline of events when your child should complete milestones to be considered "normal". I know that I have done my fair share of reading new parent books, searching the Internet, and talking to friends with children of similar age (and comparing). So, when your child doesn't reach a so-called milestone at the exact right time, you begin to wonder, "is he normal?", "does he have delayed development?", and so on.

Of course, your family and friends always tell you "children do things when they want to, not when you want them to" and not to worry, which is comforting to hear, but those other thoughts still linger in the back of your mind. Ultimately, you still tend to refer to that timeline, which drives you insane!

Today I think I have finally started to believe that kids don't follow a timeline and really do things when they want to. So, you may be wondering what brought about this revelation, huh?

Well, you see, Tristan had never rolled over from his back to his stomach, something that most kids do first, before they do anything else. He rolled from his stomach to his back for the first time at 10 weeks old, and I immediately thought I had an early developer. He started sitting up on his own and held his bottle a little after 5 months, began crawling around 7 months, and pulled up to a standing position at 8 months...all either early or on time (according to the timeline), but he never could roll over from his back to his stomach.

We had many sleepless nights when he would roll over from his tummy, get stuck on his back and I would have to go flip him over in order for him to go back to sleep. He was like a turtle who got stuck on his shell and just kicked his little arms and feet, waiting for someone to come rescue him.

Well, after much waiting, Tristan decided he was going to start rolling over from his back this morning, and now he won't stop! My son completed this 3 or 4 month old milestone at 9 months, and he is definitely not delayed by any means, he simply just didn't want to do it! So, I guess children really do have a mind of their own...kind of scary, considering what two minds he genetically inherited!!!!!