During Joey's therapy evaluation today, I started wondering, "what is normal for a baby?" I know Joey, like many other babies with Down Syndrome are a little more behind than a so called "normal baby" in some areas like strength. But I have no clue what truly is normal. My brother was 16 when I was born so I pretty much grew up an only child and since I have no nieces or nephews to compare Joey to, I have no clue when certain milestones are usually met. When I asked my mom or mother in law, they both said that it's been so long that they can't remember.
For every two steps Joey takes forward, he's been taking one back. A couple examples, a couple weeks ago he started saying "mum" and calling out for me when I would leave the room. It seems like once he started rolling over from his back to his belly, he stopped saying "mum". And now that he can roll from his back to his belly, he can no longer roll from his belly to his back. He gets stuck and starts crying. Luckily after Joey's evauluation today, his PT decided to start doing PT with him every week rather than twice a month.
Somedays, I sit and wonder, "what is normal?", and "is there such thing as a normal child?". But then, if God made all of our children the same, the world would be one boring place!
I can tell you this though...I am so grateful to have this community of fellow bloggers who know how I feel and to get advice from. It's helped me so much just knowing that I'm not the only one out there. But you know, I wouldn't have Joey any other way. He's the best little baby in the world, extra chromosomes and all!!
10 comments:
Sometimes it's hard not to get caught up in all the milestones and development and all of that...but even typical babies develop at their own pace and have a wide range of when they meet certain milestones. The other thing about it seeming like he's taking a step backward because he's not doing something is also normal. Sometimes babies/toddlers/kids concentrate on learning something new that they stop doing some things they were doing...it's like ok I know how to do that I don't need to do it anymore so I'm going to concentrate on something else. Or it'll seem like they are slowing down on reaching gross motor milestones but it's because they are concentrating more on speech...does that all make sense?
That does make sense, it just gets so frustrating sometimes :)
Yes, all babies are different. I have four and all rolled over, sat, crawled, walked at different ages. My eldest daughter walked at 10 months. My youngest daughter crawled early, started walking but then decided crawling was quicker (or she didn't like falling maybe) so she went back to crawling for awhile. My eldest son read when he was 4, my youngest son didn't read until he was 8. I think Mom's learn so much patience along the way. Babies are so precious. As I watch my granddaughter today I really see how much God loves us as we are.
It does get frustrating. I had a reallllly hard time comparing Jack to all of my friends' babies that were his age.
I agree with Michelle that sometimes they concentrate hard on one new thing and 'leave' the other things behind. Jack does it a lot with things he says. He'll just stop saying things and it drives us crazy.
Hey there! I just wanted to tell you that your sone is ADORABLE!!!! as far as development, "proffessionals" have no clue, it is that you love him, and that you are constantly working with him, that is all ANY parent should worry about, because to the child, they don't know any different they simply just are, and how can you have normal when everyone has a different reality?
Next time I drop by I will leave myspace addy, as I use msnspaces and don't remember it off hand :)
No worries, you are a wonderful mom and that baby is SOOOOOOOO Cute!
~Deb
i agree with michelle.. it is so hard to get caught up in all the milestone hoopla!! i catch myself doing it all the time. but i have remind myself that typical or not, every child has their pace for milestones.
and you know what? none of us are normal!!hahaha!!!!
oops that was me again...darn beta!!
amy and mayson
What an thought provoking post. I get confused with "normal" as well as I watch my son grow, even though he is considered quote "normal."
I'm with you, I'm not sure there is such a thing as a normal child. I'm glad that God has made each child different. Each child has their own strengths to offset their weaknesses, just as we adults do. God knows exactly what He is doing in that department.
Just love Joey for exactly who he is and all will be well. He's an adorable little guy! :)
Joey is soooo adorable.... The milestone thing is hard not to get caught up in, but just know that Joey will do what Joey will do, when Joey is ready to do it ;) Brady could have walked a couple of months before he actually did, but he just didn't want to. And - Brady was a grand one for learning a skill, then not doing it while he was working on something else - then once he mastered the next skill, he regained the original one.
Joey is wonderful and adorable and smart :) It will all come together one of these days - and then you'll be in trouble :)
Hugs :)
I know exactly what you are feeling! I went to a DS conference this weekend, and it was the greatest thing I have ever experienced. It was very uplifting and I got to meet many people with DS in all ages. But most importantly I got to meet so many othe rmothers, and togethr we were all "normal'. We all asked our DS questions, we all understood exactly what we ment. It was great! I am also thankful for all fellow bloggers, but it was also nice to meet "touchable" people. I loved it! I posted 3 rather long posts on my page if you want to read more about it. And just so you know it (which you already do) joey is adorable! Maybe he and Vincent can meet sometime in the future - they are almost the same age :-). Big hug to you !
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