Blooming

I’m starting to realize why parents think their kids are little geniuses. When my son was just leaving the newborn stage, I began to question his abilities. Why wasn’t he reaching for things? Why didn’t he make eye contact with me? Why didn’t he seem to be paying attention to anything? Was there something wrong with my baby? But slowly – at first – he began to make his milestones.

Now that he is almost 9 months old, he is reaching milestones more quickly – sometimes with startling rapidity. I’ve stopped worrying that he’ll be stuck in remedial courses and starting feeling pretty proud. Sometimes I’m stunned at what he knows. It’s obvious that at least some of the time that I thought he was unaware of his surroundings; he was actually paying very close attention.

I sat him on the floor in my room last week and he immediately flipped onto his belly and began crawling out the door. He pushed the door open and hurried down the hall to the bathroom. I had no idea that he had that kind of grip on the layout of our house. Today at lunch I asked him if he wanted more cheerios and he began to squeal with delight. It’s becoming more evident how this will turn into real language and independence, where before I didn’t see how it would all happen.

I had a similar sensation when observing the hibiscus bush outside our front door. It has no blooms presently, but is covered with tiny green buds. They are no bigger than 2 cm each and I know that in just a few days they will burst open with enormous flowers. It is hard to imagine how all that flower potential is crammed into that little bud. When your baby’s natural and normal intelligence begins to emerge, it is overwhelming. And I’m assuming that when it’s your first baby, you suspend your knowledge that these milestones are normal, not extraordinary. Still, we take so much for granted; it is nice to find joy in such small things.