Practice Makes Perfect

Eva has always been observant, studying new people and things with amazing intensity. It's finally starting to pay off. She recognizes objects and their purposes, and loves to try out using them. She knows a hat goes on your head, shoes go on your feet, a comb goes in your hair, and a spoon in your mouth. She points the remote at the TV, tries to drink from a toy cup, bangs on the bongo drums, and holds the phone to her ear while chattering away. She knows the signs for "eat", "more", and "all done". She's also started waving "bye, bye".

I've started teaching her to recognize body parts, and she will eagerly point to your nose when asked, as well as your ears and mouth, with a little coaching. The question everyone wants to know now is, "is she walking yet"? She's taking her sweet time on this one, preferring to crawl because she can do that so much faster. She'll walk if you hold her hands, but drops onto the floor the minute you let go. Though the other babies I know who are Eva's age have been walking for weeks, I know she's still well within normal range. She's just taking her time, content that she can get where she wants to go by crawling. It doesn't bother me as much as it did when she was months behind her little friends in crawling. She did it when she felt good and ready, and right away was a skillful as if she'd been doing it all along.

You begin to realize that every child has their own time frame for everything, and it has nothing to do with how smart or advanced they are. Actually, it's got more to do with temperament. High energy babies tend to hit milestones like walking sooner because they are always eagerly in motion, though using these skills before they're completely ready can result in a lot more bumps, bruises and falls. More laid back personalities like Eva will be more content to wait before attempting these skills, but once they do, they usually master them pretty quickly. It also has a lot to do with whether or not they have older siblings who motivate them to try and keep up so they're not left out. We just have to remember that by the time they get to school age, nobody's gonna care when they first walked, potty trained or drank from a cup. They're all gonna end up on about the same plane anyway.