As a Doctor of Physical Therapy, I see everyone through my clinical lens no matter how much I try not to. So, of course, I have little daddy freak out moments as I observe my kid (and others) grow.
Hi everyone!
Here’ a mid-week bonus. This post was completely unplanned… BUT! I wanted to get this out there before I went down to the grind of spreadsheet glory… yay… =P
I hope you enjoy this little video blog, vlog… blab… … post 😉
PS. Keep an eye out for tomorrow’s TBT post on Childhood Development & Speaking. When will they EVER talk? Then… when will they… clam up. LOL!
LOL! Was there any doubt? We used to do this thing with Nathan:
Great………..
Yep. Mom’s the fave. And, hey?! She’s my favorite too! Haha, it’s just so funny what little kids need and when it comes to comfort. It’s all about the mom’s. However, when it is play time, daddy is the fun one.
Yes, that’s right! There is no one else that can get my boy to giggle, squeal, and laugh the way daddy does. It’s actually really cool… comforting really. No matter the case, mom will always be there to comfort, snug, and give our boy the love. And, when kiddo needs fun play time, to tussle, jump, run, laugh, and get into all sorts of trouble. That’s what daddy is for!
This all started back when Nathan was just beginning to talk. We were doing all sorts of crazy things to try and get him to speak up more so we started this little game. As the game developed, we realized that it wasn’t just that he was saying things for the correct response, rhyme, and reason, he was saying it because he knew what emotional content these words meant. We tell Nathan we love him ALL the time. He knows what emotions comes with the word “love.” He may not completely understand what love is, how deep it goes, or that it can hurt. But, he knows that when we say “love” to him, it is a very positive, warm, and welcome emotional idea.
He also knows that when he feels awful, needs comfort, and needs that love, that mom is the best place to go. Sure, he’ll go to daddy in times of need, but if mommy is readily available — mom’s the favorite.
But, the flip side of the coin is this: If I’m not around, he doesn’t really laugh as silly, crazy, out of control.
So as far as it may periodically sting that mom is the favorite, it must sting all the same that I can get the smiles, the giggles, and the laughter of pure joy with that much more ease than mommy can. It’s not a bad thing. It’s not a good thing. It’s not, fair — and — it isn’t, not fair. It just is.
Parenthood is all about roles… specifically, making sure that roles are constructive, complimentary, and compassionate. It is easy in a tired moment to be all, “No… it’s YOUR turn to…*dot dot dot.*” Yet, the reality is this, everything is and should be all for the benefit of that wonderful bundle of love that is our kiddo. Therefore, it isn’t about who the favorite is or who gets the best kisses, hugs, laughs, or smiles.
It is all about us giving it all up in the dearest love and benefit for our son’s well being.
Who is the favorite? Nathan is!
As a Physical Therapist, I am regularly asked about concerns of physical health. Pertaining to kiddos, it’s always about child development — primarily in how they move and how their little muscles are growing. This story is all about a funny crawling pattern I was asked about.
This story is about a little boy we’ll call “MAC.” MAC is in that creepy crawly stage. He’s a starkingly heavy set kid who is in the 99% in terms of weight. And… normal for everything else. He is a HUGE baby. He is also ridiculously adorable and pretty much happy all around minus when his body tells him he needs something. The thing of it was that when MAC started to pull himself forward, he never quite transitioned to a creeping on all fours with belly off the ground. In fact, as it seemed he would, his crawling pattern changed to more of him pulling himself across the ground using left arm to pull and his right leg to kick himself forward.
This was leading to him favoring that cross pattern and somewhat ignoring the use of his right arm and left leg in mobility. Mommy, of course, saw this right away and was worried that MAC was going to become susceptible to some type of developmental concern.
This is where I came in. She asked for a clinical eye.
I was more than happy to check MAC out — just to see if there was anything of concern. His hips felt fine and the rest of his joints moved perfectly fine. He was plenty strong and squirmed away as I was poking at him — all excellent signs. I used a toy to test out if he could indeed move in a reciprocal manner. He did! It wasn’t that he couldn’t move with both sides. He just plain did not want to. In fact, he threw a fit when he realized I was tricking him to crawl reciprocally.
You should’ve seen the fit when I made him creep.
It’s all part of the process in pediatric clinical assessments. Now, mind you, I’m not specialized in pediatric physical therapy or health. It’s just something I’ve been trained in and feel comfortable enough to discern when a specialist is needed versus when everything is perfectly okay. In MAC’s case, he was great. I told mommy that MAC is just favoring this side. It’s a choice, not an impairment. My bet was that MAC would choose to move bilaterally, efficiently, and “normally” when he decided that moving all slow by pulling himself and sliding the rest of the body across the floor got boring. Sure enough, in a few weeks, he started to creep normally and he even seemed to want to skip all that into stance.
Part of this came from the fact that MAC is a pretty heavy set kid for his frame. It was probably just a bit frustrating to try to move “normally.” As a result, he created a compensatory movement pattern until his muscles were strong enough and until his brain developed enough motor control to catch up with “the curve.”
I, personally, was never worried about MAC. I figured it would be only a matter of time before he got bored of moving slowly. After all — babies want what they want, and they want it NOW.
The lesson here: Everyone is different.
The secondary lesson here: It’s always good to get a clinical eye on the situation.
The final lesson here: Crawling isn’t the goal. WALKING is the goal. Unless your kiddo’s crawling strategy has transferred over to strange and concerning walking pattern, there is absolutely nothing to worry about… particularly since you already sought a clinical eye on the situation, right? 😉