I'd give you a hand but mine are full.........

I plopped myself down onto the couch ready to shmooze with a good friend. As she sat, she plunked her 7 month old onto his tummy - and he did the unimaginable (to me anyway)- he proceeded to entertain himself whilst on his stomach. Yisroel Meir, on the other hand, remained in his favorite spot- in my arms. He's a perfectly happy baby and quite social (alert, remember?) as long as he's being held. But G-d help you if you put him down! The chutzpa!

My friend suggested that I train him to be comfortable playing on his stomach. It occurred to me that in 3.5 months Yisroel Meir has had no more than 3 'tummy time' sessions. Pangs of good 'ol Jewish guilt corsed though me- how could I rob my child of that which is necessary- no, crucial- no, essential for his development? (Forgetting of course that the concept of 'tummy time' only became popular in the early 90's and - hey- I turned out ok........I think.)

So, I awoke this morning determined to give Yisroel Meir more tummy time. No one will accuse me of being a neglectful mommy! What I saw left me absolutely floored. (Incidentally, I was already on the floor right next to YM.) I placed him on his tummy at which point he promptly pushed himself up (supporting himself with his elbows) and rolled over! He then threw his body to the side and rolled back over onto his tummy!!! He only did the back to tummy thing once but its a start! After about five minutes, YM made it abundantly clear that he'd had enough and so ended our session. I guess you could call this a milestone :).

I'm definitely encouraged despite the fact that he howled the rest of the day every time my actions even suggested that I was putting him down.

Even so, this is a ray of hope. Some day (soon?) my roly poly will crawl too and at that point- maybe- my arms will be free again to do something like fold a load of laundry.

Goodness, by the end of the day my arms feel like dead weights. G-d bless Baby Bjorn!