Fretful Mothers Unite

Another thing I worry about constantly is whether or not Penny's gross motor skills are ok. Her fine motor skills seem fine, but she really has no interest in moving her body, at least as far as rolling or crawling goes. She does baby pushups on me, and likes to stand with support, but other than that, all things "tummy" related are still torture for her. I can count on both hands the number of times she's actually rolled over. Last weekend, she tolerated being on all fours for a few seconds, but still yells pretty adamantly whenever I put her on the floor. Here's what these torture sessions look like:

Getting concerned...

Mom uses the old "distract with the cell phone" trick...

And we practice our texting skills...

and then pull at mom's heartstrings with a forlorn expression...

Starting to lose it...

Aaaaand, we have Angry Baby!

Mom to the rescue, and we're happy again!

Whew!

This all happens in the span of a minute. So at Penny's 9 month appointment, I asked my doctor if I should be worried about her. She looked at Penny, who was sitting and jabbering away and smiling and waving to all of the staff, including the nurse who administers the shots, and told me not to be too worried. She said some babies are more verbal and others are more mobile, and that as long as she's progressing in other areas (verbally and socially), the other areas (mobility) will catch up eventually.

I went back and read the 9 month chapter in the BOOK to remind myself that some babies skip crawling altogether. Seeing as how her father didn't really crawl, Penny could be in the same boat. Apparently, Britt just rolled into a standing position and started walking one day. And I walked on my knees before I figured out how to walk on my feet. Our baby is doomed.

Meanwhile, Penny weighed in at 19 lbs 12 oz and is 28 and 1/4" long. She's still perfectly proportional to herself, in the 75th %tile for height, weight and head circumference. This means she could totally take on 75 other babies in a baby throw-down wrestling match. Um, just kidding. But I kind of like the thought of Penny in the ring...I should find a luchador mask for her.