So. 6 weeks ago I revealed that I’m worried about Tessa’s development.
As of now she’s nearly 10 and a half months old. And she’s progressed. I don’t mean she’s caught up, but I’m seeing milestones. All of a sudden in the last two weeks she’s decided to make some strides. So she’s still behind, but not so far.
She’s finally swallowing food. She is taking toys and hitting them together. She babbles much more frequently. She looks to me for recognition and acknowledgement. She’s shown legitimate interest in the toy xylophone whereas her usual toy routine is to just pick up whatever she can reach and stare at it. She can for-real crawl, even though she generally chooses not to. Within the last 3 days or so, she started showing interest in things that weren’t on the ground, then started climbing up the low ottoman, then started climbing up me, and yesterday she even pulled up on to Graham’s chair. Yay! As I was writing this post, she pulled up to the coffee table to snag some yogurt melts and narrowly avoided her first head bonk. Double yay!
Two weeks ago I didn’t have nearly so much making me feel better, so it’s nice to get this rush of progress.
I made the mistake the other day of trying to remember what Graham had been doing at 10 months.
That left me kind of floored. It isn’t just that he’s so stinking fast or that he already navigates from standing to sitting so easily. It’s that he’s so engaged. And he’s already responding to a command. He’s so playful and interactive. (In case you’re curious, Graham seemed to go through a regression after that though I didn’t know it at the time. His videos from just a few months later are hugely different.)
And this is Graham at 10 and a half months.
(GAH THOSE CHEEKS.)
Here is some recent video I shot of Tessa with her favorite toy.
It’s kind of impossible not to compare and contrast. Graham has advanced enough skills he can play a game. Tessa just isn’t anywhere close to that level. You’re probably reading this and thinking, “Don’t do it! It’s a trap! You can never win by comparing your children!!”
And you are probably right.
But isn’t also kind of inevitable? Shouldn’t I just get used to it?
As for what I’m going to do about Tessa… since she’s done so well the last couple weeks I’m putting plans to contact Early Intervention on hold for a while. I do plan to email our old worker and ask her what kind of services we’d be looking at if Tessa qualified. I have no idea what they do with babies this little and I could probably do some of it myself.
Once Graham is back in school, we’ll be returning to our baby-playgroup circuit. I think she’ll really be able to enjoy herself now.
And, well, I’m just going to sit back for a while and not worry so much. I will enjoy her fuzzy hair that still sticks up and her killer smile. I will keep just half an eye on her development.
Oh, and babyproofing. I am debating whether to cover the coffee table entirely in bubble wrap or to just get rid of it all together.
I’m looking at Graham at 10 months & to me, he’s advanced over what my little boy was – but I know when he was that age & prior, I had friends with children his age or slightly younger & they were leaping past him developmentally – I just assumed they were crazy super insane advanced. And probably some were – and you can’t directly compare all kids. I’m glad you’ve been able to relax a bit over Tessa – she’s so ridiculously adorable, you should be able to sit back & enjoy that spiky hair.
Isn’t it crazy how one day a baby can’t do something and then literally the very next day he can just do it, seemingly without any practice at all? I agree that it sure is hard not to compare your babies. But, at the same time, they seem to have different strengths and interests from the beginning. Felix might be walking at 9.5 months (gah!), but he can’t seem to figure out how to drink from a bottle! I’m glad Tessa is making progress. She sure is crazy cute. My vote? (I know you want it.) Get rid of the coffee table–more room to play!
your kids are both so adorable!! I’m glad Tess is making progress… we know every child develops at their own rate but it’s so hard not to compare. When Bitty was a baby I was constantly amazed at how engaged he was – so easy to get him to interact – and how he played with toys “appropriately.” His brothers at the same age often ignored us like we weren’t in the room, and preferred spinning the wheels on their stroller (or climbing on it) to actually playing with toys. Of course that was before Bitty regressed (our older boys were delayed from the beginning, no major regression like Bitty experienced).
fwiw, we haven’t had a coffee table in YEARS and we don’t miss it. we actually got rid of it before the boys were born, but if we hadn’t done it then, we definitely would have ditched it by the time they were toddlers… with all three of our boys, but especially the older two, we’ve had to keep climbable and/or crashable surfaces to a minimum as much as possible.
My kids were very different from each other at the 10-month stage. I always wondered if a big part of it was that Annie went to daycare full-time then and Gracie was home with me full-time. (Annie was further along.) I haven’t thought about the difference between the two of them much lately – I’ve only noticed that Gracie was interested in drawing much later than Annie. That’s it. Not sure why I stopped comparing … huh.
PS – LOVE the spiky hair!!!
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