Friday, January 18, 2008

Cara Bambina - My Supergenius

Cara bambina,

You are a supergenius.* We've known this about you for a while, and we are not biased in any way. But this time, you have really amazed me.

You are walking.

That's right, my little 10-month-old baby, you did not take just one step, but multiple steps multiple times. I'm both incredibly impressed and very wary. Afterall, I have seen many toddlers recently be told to stay put, and the first thing they do is hurry off in the direction their parents don't want them to go. You are too young to understand instructions, and yet you will soon be toddling around... How am I going to keep track of you and keep you out of trouble? I am very nervous about this and all the extra work that will be involved.

But how can I not be impressed? You have developed all your gross motor skills early. I try to never brag, because every baby is different and it's just a fluke that you are an early roller/crawler/walker. Your daddy and I didn't do anything to make you this way, and you didn't really do anything either. However, I still am in awe of your growing and developing. You are indeed a supergenius.

That is not to say that you are ahead of every developmental milestone, nor would I want you to be. You are just a baby, and I'm in no hurry for you to grow up too quickly. Besides, you've still got a way to go with the talking and sign language.

I have no idea what the time frame for talking is, and I'm not really concerned because you are still so young. One of your cousins had a bunch of words by 10 months, another didn't start talking until sometime after a year, and another still isn't talking at 20 months. I have not looked up what the so-called experts say is "normal," but all of your cousins are supergeniuses. You are doing a lot of babbling and have definitely said cat ("cah") and dog ("ogah"). No "mama" or "dada," mind you, but the cat and dog. I'm sure they are much more interesting to you, but trust me when I say you should not start taking your parents for granted.

As for signing, I know your early communicating cousin already had a bunch of signs by 10 months, but I've heard from someone else that their kids started signing at 11 months and 13 months. (They are also supergeniuses.) You have actually done the sign for "All Done" and "More" when we say those words, but I don't know if you understand what they mean. One time, you signed All Done and then More, which just doesn't make sense. On a number of occasions, you have signed All Done when we ask you if you are done at the end of your meal. Then when we move your highchair back, you will start eating again. Maybe you really mean that you wanted a shift in the lighting or a slightly different view with which to continue your meal. I'll have to look up the signs for those words.

Also, the sign for milk/nursing is squeezing your fist, not opening your mouth and diving head first into my boobs while my shirt still covers them. Although your sign for milk/nursing is pretty clear to me, I have been showing you the ASL sign for months now. I'm sure you will pick them all up in time, and I can be patient (sometimes).

Afterall, your Grandma reminded me of a saying recently: You spend the first 18 months of your children's lives trying to get them to walk and talk, and you spend the next 18 years of their lives trying to get them to sit down and be quiet.**

Ti amo,
Mama

*When I read the linked-to Moxie post, I loved how all these peole called their babies supergeniuses no matter when they reached developmental milestones. They were all correct! Although I say it a bit tongue-in-cheek, I really do feel like all babies are amazing supergeniuses, considering how much they learn to do in such a short time overall. Since reading that Moxie post, I call all babies supergeniuses when parents say something new that their babies have done. And Londo and I really do say it to the Pumpkin all the time, too. Here's slightly related post by the lovely Mom-101, in which her mom sounds a lot like my mother-in-law (and I mean that in a good way).

**The saying is actually "and shut up" but my mom was uncomfortable saying that so she changed it to "be quiet." Isn't she cute?

11 comments:

Becoming Mommy said...

Yay, Pumpkin!!!
You are a supergenius. And I agree. Babies are all supergeniuses with how fast they learn everything.

OneTiredEma said...

Happy (further) babyproofing!

And your mom has it right...

Karen said...

Milestones are big events. Yeah for walking! Truly a supergenius.

Anonymous said...

Oh man are you in for it. I was so excited for Boog to walk and now I'm god child will you be still. Plus that first part when they are really figuring it out comes with a lot of bumps and bruises. Boog is working on running. Sheesh.

Burgh Baby said...

Congrats to the little supergenius! And my condolences to the Mommy who will now spend her every waking moment chasing you.

-goofydaddy said...

amen to the bumps and bruises. ours has been walking for quite some time now, and she still forgets just how big her head is! lol
you'll notice her picture on the banner of my blog that she has a little healed scratch/coffee table mark right between her eyes. evidence of the "just started to walk" phase. (also at about 10 months) :-)

Madame Queen said...

Yay! Walking at ten months. I have heard -- don't know if there's any truth to it or not -- that babies who walk early often talk a little later. Something about working on one developmental skill taking away from the other one. Of course it could all be hogwash!

FYI -- my mom wouldn't let us say shut up and I still think it's one of the worst things you can say to someone!

Cloud said...

Go little Pumpkin! Congratulations on your new skill.

We're still crawling in our house, but recently, our Pumpkin lunged for the phone that her Daddy was taking away from her, and almost took a step or two. We shivered, and thought "geez, we're not even done with all the babyproofing we wanted to do for the crawling phase."

Kat - Housewife Confidential said...

Huzzah!

Congratulations on such a massive step (hem hem). I hope we never get to the point of sit still and be quiet - wouldn't that be lovely?

Kat x

Cara said...

I agree with the walk early-talk late thing. Arabella was an early walker too (she wanted to run, holding hands at 10 months, finally let go at 11 months, and was full-out running on her own at 13 months) but didn't start to talk until she was nearly 18 months. Now, at 4, she talks steadily. I wish I knew where the mute button was. My mother says I talked early but didn't walk until I was over a year.

caramama said...

Thanks everyone, for you congrats and condolenced! haha.

Madame Queen: I felt that way about "shut up" until I watched Seinfeld regularly. Elaine de-sensitized me to the phrase. It's anothering thing I'm going to have to watch because I don't want the Pumpkin saying it.

Cara: Running? I'm REALLY not ready for running!

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