Growth and Developement

It's amazing when you think about how much children change in such a short period of time. From 2-6 months there was so much development in Luke's little life! I think one of the most exciting things was when he realized he had hands and those hands would work for him to grab things. I was at my dad's house the first time I noticed him using them. He was laying on the bed propped up on a pillow and I was laying there chatting with him (a pretty one-sided conversation!), and he reached up and grabbed the sleeve of my shirt! Once he realized he could grab things it wasn't long until he was playing with toys! Then the real fun began!





Luke started sitting up and rolling over at 4.5 months and suddenly this little thing that just laid there and looked around seemed to come to life! Before he started rolling over I remember worrying about how much "tummy time" he was getting, and I worried he wasn't doing enough! He hated it and cried every time I laid him on his little mat! Of course everything was fine though and he developed right on schedule if not early! I learned a great lesson in this: to stop worrying and just let him develop on his own!



From sitting up and rolling over, true mobility wasn't that far away. He started crawling, pulling up, and got his first tooth all in the same weekend, at 6 months old. The first week he was mobile I was exhausted! I had wanted him to be mobile so badly, and I was told "Don't wish him to be mobile, it's a lot more work!" and that is sooo true! The first time I had to get him out of the dog bowl I knew we were in trouble (he has since broken that dog bowl!)! Now it's hard to keep him out of everything! The other day he crawled under the baby gate so he could go up the stairs- our bonus for having such a small baby!



Now we are progressing towards walking, which I am actually pretty excited about- I'm not sure what other trouble he can get into but I'm sure he'll find something! Right now he can really move when holding on to his stride to ride lion, of course until he runs into the wall and then he gets mad because he can't go anymore! He can stand by himself for a few seconds and takes a few steps when we stand him up in between us. It's really more of a controlled fall than anything though.
There are so many changes that take place in the first year- just going from helpless newborn to walking toddler alone is amazing! I look at Luke now and I can't believe he is the same baby we brought home 10 months ago. What's also amazing is looking at older kids and imagining him talking and learning (as if he's not learning now!)! There is still so much ahead, but I'm trying to savor every little stage and every new thing he's learned!