A couple of days ago, James made such major moves toward independence that I felt like he was about to head off for college. I kid, sort if, but I really was amazed!
The first was at story time at the library, which we go to every Thursday afternoon. For a little background, I first took James to story time when he was four months old. He sat in my lap the whole time, completely silent and almost completely still. He seemed stunned. He is often like this when he is in a new situation – he doesn’t act scared or cry, but is super serious and just takes it all in.
Over the weeks, he’s become increasingly active at story time, bouncing and squealing and reaching out to touch other babies. This past thursday though, he went off to play by himself for the first time.
After songs and the story, the librarian puts out a bunch of toys and blows bubbles. I set James down in front of me and after a minute, he rolled off to the middle of the room to check out some scarves and go see the librarian. I realize this probably seems like a super minor event, but I felt so proud of his independence! I was happy to see him feeling so comfortable on his own, even when a much older baby came over and started messing with his feet (lol). I honestly also was a little sad though…I know this was only the first of many steps of him moving away from me.
Later that day, he made another bold move and chose something off of his toy shelf by himself for the first time!
He was playing with a ball on the big rug in his room. He lost interest in the ball and started to roll around. He then rolled right over to his toy shelf, surveyed the options, and chose one! He chose an empty tray, which I suppose makes sense since it was the only thing on the shelf he hadn’t played with before.
Since then, he’s been going to choose his own toys. He isn’t crawling yet, but has become quite expert at pivoting so he can role in a specific direction to get where he wants to go. There’s no stopping him now! He even put a toy he was done with back on the shelf a couple of times, though I know this was likely just coincidence and not an innate sense of tidiness at six months 🙂
James also showed his newfound independence in one less desirable, though hilarious, way. One night at about 3:30 AM, he got out of his floor bed (he doesn’t roll out, but lies on his back and very slowly and carefully scooches out, pushing with his feet), rolled across the room and started banging on the door. It was pretty funny…as long as it doesn’t become a regular thing. We shall see….
Were you independent as a child?
I think I was in some ways, but I’ve also always been pretty shy and tentative in new situations.
