Meeting milestones...

Smiling and Babbling: My son was a smiling, babbling fool. He would smile a lot but I still hadn't been able to recreate the belly laugh that made me laugh so hard. He was saying dada a lot, though he didn't associate my husband with dada. Everything was dada. He would sit for a long time just repeating the same sounds over and over and over and over again. Baba entered his vocabulary as well as mama. But again, he wasn't using these "words" for anything specific. He loved to smile at the dogs. I would bring him into the kitchen with me in his bouncer and put it on the floor. While I was doing dishes or making dinner, he would watch me. He would also watch the dogs and would smile every time they came near him. Everything they did amused him. When they ate, when they played, when they barked. I have had the opportunity to bring him around other people's dogs and he is never scared. He always smiles and sometimes shrieks with happiness.

Rolling Over: Just a couple of days before his four month check-up, he rolled over on his own. He had been trying for weeks. He would lay on his back and swing his legs to the side. He would push and try but could never quite get his body all the way over. Eventually he got his legs but then his arm would be caught underneath him and he couldn't make it all the way. Then one day my husband and I were watching this massive struggle. I wanted to help him but my husband held me back. Let him do it on his own. And then it happened. He just did it. I was so excited, clapping and cheering. Once on his belly, he didn't know what to do. I put him back on his back to see if he would do it again. He tried a couple of times but he was done for the day. A couple of days later he was a rolling expert. Whenever he was on his back, he flipped over. He tried to go back the other way and succeeded sometimes but usually by accident. From that time on, he never slept on his back again. I put him to bed on his back and he always ended up on his belly. The risk of SIDS goes way down once they can roll over on their own so I let him be.

Crawling: He hated tummy time. When he first learned to roll over he would get so mad that he was on his tummy. But I made him do it for a couple minutes per day. He wasn't ready for crawling yet but he was still too young. I would give him time on this one.

Sitting Up: He was able to sit pretty well with support. One day just after turning 5 months old, I propped him up with some pillows on the floor. He sat there playing for a while. Then I moved the pillows very carefully and he stayed where he was. He didn't fall backwards, though I was close by in case he did. Slowly he leaned forward until he folded up like a book. I guess falling forward was better than falling backwards. Soon he was sitting on his own and I was no longer worried about him falling backwards. I couldn't wait for this moment to get here and now here he was. A big boy.

I couldn't wait for him to crawl, walk, hold his own bottle, talk. There were so many milestones that I was anxious to happen but I was happy to bask in the glow of being a proud mama.