"Milestones"

[Pints]

So when your child passes them. post them!


My daughter is a little over 8 months old and has "mastered" chewing on anything we hand to her, sitting up and falling over, communicating through babbling, grunting, and the occasional excited scream. Out of the blue a week ago at my folks house, my father was standing on the back porch looking into the house and said "Hi Chloe!" she turend to him lifted her arm. This developed into her lifting her arm everytime she saw me come home or saw mommy in the morning and has evolved into her doing it to practically everyone she sees.

Well! The milestone that flipped me out was yesterday evening she lifted her arm and waved her hand. This morning after dropping her off at her grandmas she "waved" goodbye to me. She "gets it" and it makes me very happy.


Bizarre how the little tiny things can really floor you, or rather they floor me.

[Lizzie Bee]

Milestones? Hmm.

My twin boys are 18 months old and they develop the good stuff very differently. But if one of them learns a bad habit, the other one usually learns it within a tenth of a second. They've mastered scaling the walls via the molding and window sills (they have strong toes), climbing on the counters, defeating the child locks on the cabinets, falling off of chairs, running away from me at light speed and disassembling their toys. They're also good at some of the traditional stuff, too. :)

[DoctorD]

Do the third kids have any milestones? Hell, there aren't even any pictures of them!

[billreeves]

My wife just called to say that our little guy (six months old yesterday) rolled over to grab a toy when she dropped him off at day care this morning. We haven't seen him roll over before.

[SueB]

I know the development milestones come fast and furious when they're babies. Here's one that's not so much developmental and it's a little bit further down the line, but it really got to ME as a parent - the first school bus ride.

Until the first school bus ride, you pretty much KNOW who your kid is with and where (s)he is 24/7. You strap them tightly in the car, you take them to precisely wherever they need to go, and if you're leaving them with a sitter or daycare provider or whomever, you hand the kid off directly to that person. Then they turn 5, and suddenly you're supposed to feel comfortable about sending them up the steps of a bumpity old schoolbus to sit in a seat with no seatbelts and be driven down the road by a driver whose name you probably don't even know.

It works, but let me tell you, it was a bit disconcerting for me the first time.

[Mr. Bee]

My little guy was born two months early so he's on the developmental curve of age -2 months.


He's almost 1 year old (11 days from now) but he's at the 10 month milestone mark.

He's pulling himself up everywhere, cruising (shuffling by holding onto objects) and standing unassisted for a few seconds at a time. Crawling faster than lightning. Loves to climb on things (mostly the back of his bouncy seat) to bounce up and down. Just loves jumping and bouncing. He can say ma-ma and da-da.

Next major thing I'm waiting on is walking, shouldn't be long.

[Ringo]

something only a parent can appreciate:

he pointed at his bottom and said 'poo-poo' when he had a dirty diaper.

and he picks up new signs like THAT. he signs better than he talks.

also, within the last week he's started to be very serious about brushing his teeth. he has an electric (one of those kiddy ones with cookie monster on it, ironically enough) ... and he'll go into his room and beg for me to get it down, then he'll sprint to the bathroom and show me where the toothpaste is. he'll get upset when I tell him we're done. so that's nice to see.

[Twenty26Six]

My little guy was born two months early so he's on the developmental curve of age -2 months.


He's almost 1 year old (11 days from now) but he's at the 10 month milestone mark.

He's pulling himself up everywhere, cruising (shuffling by holding onto objects) and standing unassisted for a few seconds at a time. Crawling faster than lightning. Loves to climb on things (mostly the back of his bouncy seat) to bounce up and down. Just loves jumping and bouncing. He can say ma-ma and da-da.

Next major thing I'm waiting on is walking, shouldn't be long.

Don't fret too much about the timeframe of milestones unless you see underdevelopment in speech or hearing.

Our daughter didn't walk until 18-19 months. Part of it was that our rooms are small and crawling/climbing was faster/easier. Another part of it was that she was always a little scared to do it without help.

Now she runs and walks with more coordination than our Godson did at this age.

[Lizzie Bee]

Now I know this sounds like just plain bragging, but it was the strangest thing I ever saw: one of the twins rolled over from his tummy to his back the week he was born... TWICE! The other twin was not far behind, doing it within the first month. I couldn't believe my eyes the first few times it happened!

[Twenty26Six]

Now I know this sounds like just plain bragging, but it was the strangest thing I ever saw: one of the twins rolled over from his tummy to his back the week he was born... TWICE! The other twin was not far behind, doing it within the first month. I couldn't believe my eyes the first few times it happened!

There must have been some serious wrestling going on in that third trimester!

[Ringo]

Don't fret too much about the timeframe of milestones unless you see underdevelopment in speech or hearing.


our son has been a slow talker and it's been quite an long haul with all the tests. but even before we took a single test I wasn't worried --- he's such a smart little guy. he just wasn't interested in talking.

first, he has a big head. off the charts big. that, along with the speech delay, caused his doctor to start scratching her head a bit. But I was a slow talker and my wife's family has a thing for big heads. So we weren't sure if the big head and slow speech was hereditary or symptoms of a larger problem (It's not a tumor! -- say it in your best Arnold voice and you'll smile).

So, we took him in for a MRI. the MRI results didn't worry me as much as the full-on anesthsia. It was heartwrenching to see them force a gas mask on and his little body go limp. We weren't allowed in the room while it was going on, so it sucked to leave him there. But having him wake up in my arms, groggy as hell, was just what I needed to help ol' Dad make it through.

So here's the odd part ... we had to wait a few days for the results but our doctor wasn't in. So when he called another doctor looked at the MRI to give us our results. now, this doctor had never heard of Zack or knew anything about his history -- but he takes one look at the MRI and says 'speech delayed, right?' It seems as you get older the coating on the ends of your nerves starts to develop, which allows the electrical impulses to go from one nerve to another. when this happens, speech follows. his nerves weren't as developed. the good news is that the doctor said it's like a muscle -- if you go to a gym, it will get stronger. if we work with a speech therapist, the nerves will develop. no long-term worries. thank goodness.

like I said, I wasn't worried because he's pretty smart. He understands A LOT of words, follow's complex commands and, oddly enough, picks up signing very quickly. He can learn new words that way in no time. the therapist is very pleased with this because evidently picking up signs uses the same brain processes as speaking does. So it's all good development. He had vision tests and hearing tests and passed those. The therapist was amazed the first time she saw him and said that he'd be spouting out sentences before we know it.

so, long story short ... not all speech delays are cause for concern. sometimes they just need a little extra work and extra lovin.

and as much as I'm looking forward to talking (he has about 15 words now and has been saying momma and daddy for some time) I know I'll miss the baby talk. I love hearing the gibberish that comes out of his mouth.

Anyway, that's my story. :)

[Mr. Bee]

Anyway, that's my story. :)

Wow, I'm kind of in the same boat, without the speech delay thing (as of yet, see now you have me worried!).

As mentioned, my son was 2 months early, so he's always been behind on height and weight. He's always hovered around 30th percentile for height and 40th for weight... but then we get the bombshell that he's 100th percentile for head size - off the charts, as you said.

We did the whole MRI thing as well, were really nervous, but turns out everything is just fine. He's just got a gigantic head.

I'm an 8 1/4 hat so I wasn't that concerned from the beginning :)

[Lizzie Bee]

I had a son who was very slow to talk, as well. Like you, I wasn't worried, because I could tell he was bright and understood me just fine. He just didn't feel like talking. He got over that eventually and now I can't shut him up. I miss the days of peace and quiet *sigh*

Another parallel: I have another son who has an off-the-charts big head. The doctor isn't worried about it from a medical standpoint, but I worry about him getting teased some day. On second thought.. nah.. he's just too beautiful (http://www.geekuniverse.org/pics/Eli3_small.jpg).

[Ringo]

i'm not worried about the big head because, to me, it's hard to tell unless he's next to another kid. I think he looks normal and since he's always got a big smile, I have no reason to complain.

also, he may not talk ... but man, I don't have any peace and quiet! he's still a chatterbox. :D

[Ringo]

Wow, I'm kind of in the same boat, without the speech delay thing (as of yet, see now you have me worried!).


i'm sure there's nothing to worry about. my little guy's not too far behind ... they just want to make he doesn't lag too much. it's more preventive at this point, which is good. I can see the sessions paying off already and we've only been to three.

:)

[Boundzy]

You definitely have to take the developmental milestones with a grain of salt. Children develop at varying rates, and not all children develop in the same sequence. Although there are charts that can help quantify the development of skills and abilities relative to peers, each child is an individual with an idiosyncratic developmental process. For example, there are periods when we can tell that our daughter is going through a motor development phase. During this phase, it seems as though she develops new motor skills every day, while her language skills may stay the same.

To me, it’s like the body doesn’t have enough energy to develop all skills at once, so motor skills become an area of focus for a while and language goes to the back burner. Then, one day you realize that her vocabulary has grown and she’s back into a language development stage.

Anyway, our milestone for the weekend:

I was sitting on the couch with my almost 17-month-old daughter. She started randomly naming people and pets that she knows. After naming several family members and pets, she pointed to herself and said her name! Obviously, she knows and responds to her name, but that’s the first time that she has identified herself by name without prompting.

[Ringo]

today I realized my son is smarter than the president.







wait, nevermind that was a milestone from 18 months ago.

[Pints]

She now can push herself from lying on her belly to sitting upright or pull herself up to her knees. She still doesn't have the crawling thing down,(and oh how this pisses her off!) but boy can she scoot!:D

[billreeves]

She now can push herself from lying on her belly to sitting upright or pull herself up to her knees. She still doesn't have the crawling thing down,(and oh how this pisses her off!) but boy can she scoot!:D

My little one is just a little bit behind -- he can push himself up off his belly but can't his knees under him yet. He is unable to move himself forward, but over time, he will push himself backwards -- away from whatever it is he is trying to get -- basically, pushes himself up with his arms, and then tries to reach forward and ends up going backwards a little bit -- and this does piss him off. :D

[Pints]

My little one is just a little bit behind -- he can push himself up off his belly but can't his knees under him yet. He is unable to move himself forward, but over time, he will push himself backwards -- away from whatever it is he is trying to get -- basically, pushes himself up with his arms, and then tries to reach forward and ends up going backwards a little bit -- and this does piss him off. :D


He's not behind, he is on his own track ;)

My daughter does exactly what you are describing. She has managed to get her knees up and under her and she'll sorta rock as though the momentum will some how throw her forward but eventually gets tired and starts the backwards scooch across the floor. Note: i have yet to see her pull herself up but my wife swears she has done it a couple of times.