So, Nicholas is teetering on the edge of rolling over. He's SO close. At almost six months, I have wondered......"is this normal?" As a new parent, you ask yourself that a lot. Is this normal? Is this when he SHOULD be doing this? Or is he early [yeah, my kid rocks!]? Or is he late [uhhhh....is there something wrong with my kid?????]. It's a daily Q&A.
What is worse is when you go to social situations....like progressive dinners.....and you end up in a competition over whose kid did this first and so on. I'm sure there will be somebody at this dinner who has a kid who was rolling over at two weeks! There's always somebody who has an over achiever at home and likes to announce it to those of us with "normal" children.....
I have been told that I was talking by six months. The family joke is that I have never shut up since then! Yeah, ha, ha everybody..... Granted, I wasn't quoting Shakespeare or even making compound sentences. But I certainly knew who my "dada" was and greeted him as such. Very soon after that, I learned "papa" [for my grandfather, Papa John.....who is NOT the pizza guy] and "cott" for my older brother, Scott. I finally got around to learning "mama" after that. Seems I've been boy crazy since a very early age.....
I swear Nicholas spoke his first word around three months. However, it happened during his sleep, so I'm not sure if it counts! He was still sleeping in our room, and he was sound asleep and obviously dreaming. It was about 3:30 a.m.
Now, I am a very light sleeper to begin with and having a baby has made me a SUPER light sleeper. I'm not sure if I ever really GO to sleep -- because the slightest sound from the baby has me fully awake and ready to dart upstairs and make sure he's okay.
So, it's 3:30 a.m., and I'm in my semi-sleep state. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Nicholas proclaims, "Hello!" A few seconds later, it's followed by another, louder "HELLO!" Then, he giggles and is quiet, the only sound his breathing.....and my laughing!
See, I tend to greet Nicholas with "hello!" or "hi!" Usually, I say it several times and am rewarded with smiles and laughs....or at least some wide eyes. I suppose that my silly baby was having a dream about me greeting him with my usual hello, and he responded quite clearly with a sweet and very distinctive "hello" in response.
If you are a parent or doctor or supposed "baby expert", then I'm sure you are poo-pooing the fact that my 3-month-old newborn said anything at all. But I will go to my grave swearing that he said "hello" twice in his sleep at 3:30 a.m. sometime before Thanksgiving 2006. I know it was before Thanksgiving, because that was the sad day we moved him to his room.....and mommy had a minor meltdown......
What can he say when he's awake, you might be wondering......? Well.....I've heard "ma" and even "mom" in reference to me and maybe "okay" once or twice. He often will greet me with "hi", but I haven't heard another crystal clear "hello."
Doesn't matter when he REALLY starts talking.....just as long as he says "mama" BEFORE he learns "dada"......
