Just when I thought nothing new is happening, just when I started to fear there will be nothing to write about, Jonathan started adding something new to his repertoire on a weekly and sometime daily basis. Something that did not work a day before could work today. In the last few weeks he is really developing a personality and showing his will and opinion clearly.
In the last few weeks he has started to communicate and show me what he wants in a very exact manner, he can express total joy, lack of interest and dissatisfaction clearly. He has operated his music box (though this was just a fluke as it has not been repeated despite the fact that he now has TWO! such music boxes, one in his pen and one in his bed, just waiting to be operated by the little genius…) and has started to hold his bottle alone and crawl on his tummy – lots of new actions that are typical for a 5.5 months old infant.
For at least a month he has been wishing to crawl but not quite getting it right, as he would lift his buttocks and push with his legs but dig his head into the carpet, thus not moving at all and getting frustrated. He would complain bitterly about this and all the more so when he could not reach a toy he wanted that was too far off. He would reach out to a toy or even to mommy and cry his frustration loudly. I then let him cry and try to reach his target for a short while and then helped him get it. The cries were immediately replaced by smiles.
As he gets older his actions get more focused and in the last week he started to be able to propel himself forward by pushing with his legs. 10 days ago we were playing on the carpet and he clearly wanted to get to me. I remained near him, but out of his reach and tapped my hands on the floor to make noises and called to him. He pushed with his feet and pushed some more but to no avail. This week the same exercise worked brilliantly and Jonathan managed to move forward about 10 cm towards me. Yesterday he already crossed a meter of distance between us to get to mommy. His crawling action is becoming more defined every day! It’s a true pleasure to watch. I can see clearly that his right leg is the stronger "propeller" but I am happy to report that he eventually used both legs for belly crawling.
As Jonathan is an active child, we purchased a large carpet so he can crawl freely and not meet with the colder floor to often (in Israel homes have stone floor tiles, hardy but cold). He has a running nose already (I did read this might have to do with ADD and as his father has ADD this is plausible – I will keep a wary eye) and so I prefer him to exercise his new found freedom of movement on a carpet, besides its nicer for me to sit on the carpet with him as on the floor (perhaps one might say I purchased the carpet for myself and not for Jonathan, who does not really seem to notice what is beneath him when he is on the move, unless he faces a hurdle that he cannot remove out of his way he really does not seem to care where he is).
One Friday afternoon I left him on the carpet happily playing and went to cook myself lunch. All seamed a bit too quiet so I went to check on him and found him happily nibbling on the manual attached to one of his toys. I had left the manual attached to the toy because I noted it sparked Jonathan's interest, but eating the pages was just too much! And so, I scolded Jonathan and took away the remains of the wet pages. He most clearly was not happy and gave me a grave fact and started crying, clearly offended that I had scolded him and put an end to the fun – it was just too endearing to watch his reaction (true Charlie Brown like wailing mouth – shaped like a horizontal number 8) that of course I started to smile and ruined the whole effect of the reprimand I was trying to give. Soon Jonathan was happy again and playing with another toy and I returned to my lunch. Yet again all was too quiet and so I looked again only to find Jonathan happily licking the soles of my shoes, which I had left in the living room after removing them so I could join my son on the carpet for some crawling exercises ("come to mommy… yes one more step… who's a good boy!").
I have noticed that when things are too quiet things tend to happen. This is not only true for Jonathan, but other kids as well. My brother was awfully quiet one afternoon at the age of four and was eventually discovered cutting his hair with my mother's nail scissors and it took half a year for the hole he made to grow b back… When Jonathan was 3 months old and I started to place him intentionally and despite his loud protests on his stomach, silence turned out to be the indication of the first time he had managed to roll on his back and thus had solved his problem. Now the silence meant he was up to no good and eating paper and licking shoe soles. Well he is growing rapidly and I will need to be more careful. The nurses at the children's clinic have already warned me that I will have to start locking cabinets soon… It is going to be quite a challenge making our fully stuffed apartment baby safe; in fact I think it is impossible. We will naturally put some children locks on cupboards and cover electricity sockets, but teaching Jonathan what he may or may not touch will also have to be an integral part of the process, as is the acceptance that some of our books that are placed on lower shelves may be victim to page licking... Leaving him entirely to himself is also going to be more difficult and yet I believe he should be allowed to explore independently and I can only hope he will not get hurt in the process of learning. After all, I cannot be there all the time even if I want to; I am just a mother not a sorceress…
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