An Ideal Third Child
Clark really has been an ideal third child. He's a pretty calm baby for the most part and never complains unless he's hungry, tired or in pain. He's been trucked everywhere from day one, including our car trip to Utah for uncle David's wedding and he traveled perfectly. He's adapted quite well to the fact that mom is often busy with older siblings and household chores by screaming really loud when he needs me. I believe he's my loudest yet.
After Clark's Baby Blessing during our trip to Utah
Saddled up for David's Wedding
Dancing with Grandma Garcia at the party!
Learning how adventurous Abuelito Roundy is
Mobility Challenged or Not?
He gave us a bit of a scare when he was a couple of months old because his vision was not very well developed and he never seemed to look right at you or to track anything. The vision thing kind of spooked us and since aunt Ana Maria is an early developmental specialist, she sent me all the info and I had Clark evaluated and he qualified after what seemed like a million visits of just paperwork. Since they say that crawling is one of the best things you can do for your child's development, I am determined to make him our first child to actually crawl. I have been tempted a time or two to just buy Ana Maria an airplane ticket to be my in house therapist, especially since she's the one who taught him to sit up during Christmas break. Our early developmental specialist told me at our last visit that she's stumped and ready to bring in a physical therapist to help him learn to crawl. However I am starting to think that for our family he may just be normal.
First Smiles!
He's barely ten months old now, which for most children may be sort of late to start moving around, but at this age Sergito could not move at all from the sitting position and was learning to stand up. He started walking before he was 11 months old, but as soon as we sat him down he was stuck. Emma was completely immobile until 11 months when she learned to scoot on her bum. So, in comparison to his siblings, he is at least right on track if not ahead of schedule! Yes he is! He will actually roll on purpose to get to things, AND he will get into crawling position. So even though he doesn't really get anywhere, he is much closer to crawling than either of his siblings were at this age (since they both learned to walk before they crawled).
Maybe we should chalk it up to chubbiness! Check out the double chin!
I've determined that perhaps the most significant problem is lack of incentive. It reminds me of the story my mom likes to tell of when my youngest sister Jessi was in kindergarten and had NO interest in learning how to read. One day while reasoning with her teacher she told her in all seriousness, "No, Mrs. Schaffner, I don't NEED to learn how to read because (taking out her fingers one by one) my mom reads to me, my dad reads to me, Kevin reads to me, Adriana reads to me, and Ana Maria reads to me. . ." Makes perfect sense right?
When I leave Clark with toys out of reach so that he will be motivated to move enough to reach them, before I know it the screaming has stopped. Why? A toy has magically appeared in front of him thanks to Sergito or Emma. And when he falls over and I leave him on his side or back to see if he'll figure out how to pick himself up, I walk away and when I come back he's sitting comfortably, "He was crying mom, so I sat him back up!" They say it with such a proud smile on their face that how can I tell them not to be so "helpful"? And so I feel he is telling me, "I don't need to learn how to move mom because Emma brings me my toys, Sergito sits me up, and they take turns holding my bottle when I don't feel like it."
Love and Attention can be SCARY!
Sergito and Emma's efforts to keep Clark entertained. At the time he couldn't hold anything in his hand!
Walks in the Park
Every time they were both in superman PJ's Sergito wanted a picture taken.
They also keep him happy in the mornings. He shares a room with Sergito and on Saturday mornings at the first sound of complaint Sergito climbs into Clark's crib to keep him happy and soon enough Emma comes to join the fun. It's a miracle it hasn't fallen apart yet!
Boys Bathtime!
The most effective way to get Sergito and Emma to take a shower these days is to put Clark in first and tell them that whoever gets into the bath first gets to bathe with Clark! Sergito wins the race more often than not. So I usually bathe him first and then put Emma in while I bathe Clark so that they both get a few minutes with the coveted baby brother.
Clark with his friend Charlotte and their favorite blankets. I belive she's the one that convinced him that knitted was the way to go!
1 comment:
Good luck with the crawling thing. I have been trying to help my second talk more... he just doesn't see the need... kind of like Clark. Good to get updates on your family! Congrats on the new house.
Post a Comment