Mother's Day and Milestones

Little man has finally done it. On May 7th he finally rolled over onto his belly without trapping one of his little arms underneath him! Unfortunately I was at work when this occurred and missed the event. Very sad for me. Not bad for 3 1/2 months. That following Tuesday on May 12th he rolled from back - front front-back back-front. This I was delighted to have seen!! Although I'm not sure that was what he had intended to do. He had a lot of momentum going into the first roll, and it looked like it just kinda kept him going. The surprised look, turned joy on his face was hysterical. I can just imagine him thinking something like "whoa, that was awesome...lets do it again".

This milestone for Evan was thoroughly celebrated by big sis, who takes credit for having "taught" Evan to roll over. Yes, she was there cheering him on while observing his daily strains and struggles as he attempted to coordinate his little body to roll and assume the crawl position. Some days she's lay down in front of him and say "no baby Evan, like this" and demonstrate a pencil roll. She'd roll all the way across the room and back to him. Other days she's clap her hands and cheer his efforts by offering kind words of encouragement. On occasion she'd stand over him and scream at him drill Sergent style "flip over already" or "flip over baby Evan". Once in awhile she'd attempt to physically help him by pulling on an arm, leg or his head. Most days she'd squat down next to him and shoving her hands under his shoulders and lower back. Then she'd grunt and strain like a weight lifter all the while trying to lift and flip her brother. On one or two unfortunate instances she'd attempt to assist him with her foot. Yeah, yikes. She's stick her foot in his back and attempt to flip him....when the gentle foot prodding method failed to yield the desired result, she took a running start and in true soccer style attempted to punt her brother over. Fortunately I was near enough to interrupt this. All in all his new found milestone has been greatly celebrated by Big Sis and his parents. Little man of course looks simply overjoyed and extremely proud of himself.

His next trick seems to be learning to crawl. So far he's well on his way. If he's laying on my bed, he'll roll onto his belly, stretch out his arms, grab the bottom sheet and pull himself forward. He has tried this technique on the carpet with little success . On the carpeted floor he can roll to his belly and scrunch his knees underneath himself, he just hasn't quite figured out how to propel himself forwards.

So this past Mother's day was the first mother's day I have had off of work since I was pregnant with my oldest. This alone was a treat in and of itself. In reality the best gift I could ask for was just having the day to spend time with Jay and the kids. Taylor in true toddler style couldn't quite figure out why Mommy was getting a present and she wasn't. We were all curled up in bed, Taylor hands me a little present, but then of course wants to help me open it, which is fine. But she kept asking where hers was. Makes sense I guess. Jay explains to her that on Mother's Day "mommy gets a present for being a mommy". And without missing a beat Taylor responds with "Well what about for Taylor being Taylor"? I love the logic. We then explained that that's what birthday's are for. But still I was impressed with her quick wit as it relates to the naturally/developmentally self centered universe of toddlers .