Monday, August 06, 2007

Dangerous Knowledge

As new parents we excitedly await every new milestone there is. For instance Sydney learned a few months ago that a smile will get her everywhere. And it does, because it is heartbreakingly cute. We're hoping she doesn't really know that this smile will manipulate us, but we have our suspicions.

Recently she has learned to roll over onto her belly, which causes all sorts of problems. For one thing she hasn't figured out how to roll back over onto her back, so when she's done with being on her belly (usually about five seconds after getting there) she lets us know about it loudly. Immediately upon being rolled over she will try her new trick again. For another, all the new and improved parenting books tell you to put your baby to sleep on her back. Which we do. But apparently she likes sleeping on her belly and will roll over to a more comfortable position as soon as we're out of sight. The parenting books don't say anything about this. Do we roll her over? Or do we decide since she put herself that way it's okay?

We've also discovered that she will bring whatever is in her hands to her mouth. This evolutionary trait must be needed in order to learn what is good to eat and what is not, or possibly just to drive parents insane. Mostly there's nothing in arm's reach to swallow, except mom's hair, which has been falling out in droves (another neat pregnancy trick). Do babies get hairballs?

Possibly the most dangerous trait she has learned is her fascination with sparkly, twirly things. We recently went to a craftsman's fair, and besides our discovery that fairs are Baby Central (more babies than adults, I swear) we noticed that Sydney was absolutely riveted on certain items that we passed. Naturally it followed that she had to have the item. Pretty soon we were lugging around shiny, sparkly, twirly things that we never would have picked up on our own. They say children are expensive. Now I know why.

3 comments:

Doug said...

Don't know if you ever found an answer to this, but in the books I've been reading lately they say that once the child is strong enough to roll onto their stomach, they're strong enough to survive any risk of SIDS.

Of course, it still doesn't prevent the parental anxiety that I'm sure I'll feel come next February. :(

Suddenly Human said...

Well I've heard that as well but the NEVER EVER EVER PUT YOUR BABY TO SLEEP ON THEIR BELLY mantra is a hard tune to get rid of.

Anyway they still don't really know what causes SIDS... so paranoia runs doubly rampant.

Suddenly Human said...

That being said... she seems to be doing just fine (and also has also recently decided back sleeping is more comfortable). So it's probably all good :)