Right on Track

It is such a crazy feeling to be able to predict exactly when Jack is about to reach a new milestone. With the big boys, reaching milestones when they were infants was always a grey area. I never knew if they'd reach a milestone based on their actual age, adjusted age, or even ahead of time. For my type-A personality, it was maddening to not know from one minute to the next what to expect.

With Jack, however, I continue to be amazed that he is one of those textbook babies and is hitting his milestones right on cue. It really does blow my mind.

Every Wednesday I get an email from the Bump website that tells me what a baby of his age should be doing. It is always within a day or two of those emails that he decides to do whatever it says he should. I swear it's like he is reading the emails himself! I imagine him thinking things like, "Hm. It says I should blow raspberries now. Okay. I'll work on that today." or "What's this? I'm supposed to bear weight on my legs? Jeez, I better get to that."

It's been like that for every milestone he is supposed to master.

"Talk?" He started that about a week before they said I'd start to hear it.

Rolling over? He did it two days after I read that he should. Of course, he only did it that one time a week ago, and I didn't even get to see it! I had him on his back, turned to do something, turned around, and voila! Jack's on his belly with this "What the heck just happened?" look on his face. (Today at my mom's, he rolled from back to front for the second time. She missed it, too, and turned around to see him on his belly after leaving him on his back.)**

Stranger anxiety? He started it just before the email said he might.

Blowing raspberries? Started four days after that email.

It's almost eerie! (In a good way, of course.)

Tomorrow I'll get another email, as Jack will be 20 weeks old. I can't wait to find out what this next week has in store for us!

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Interestingly, rolling from front to back is the way most babies start out. Jack can get himself to his side and then stops to suck his thumb. He's been doing that forever it seems. Apparently rolling back to front is the harder skill. That's my boy. Gotta be original, just like his older brothers! :-)

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P.S. This is my 501st post! Go Stacie, go Stacie, go Stacie...