Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Charlie has a very difficult time sitting around doing nothing. He always has to be doing something, moving, learning new things. If he is sitting, a lot of time he's shaking his leg, the energy trying to find a place to exit his body. Sometimes at night when we're trying to fall asleep I can even feel the vibrations across our huge, heavy, nobody can lift this thing king-sized bed. He doesn't even realize he's doing it.

He's like that with the kids too, in a way. Always wants to take them out, show them things, or teach them stuff. He started teaching Andy how to read when he was four, because he couldn't wait any longer (Charlie, not Andy) and he is already starting to lay the ground work with Sarah. So it shouldn't surprise me that one morning last week while I was sleeping in he decided to teach Amanda how to roll over.

Side note: Sleeping in is not as exciting as it sounds. We each get to sleep in one weekend morning, usually him on Saturday and me on Sunday. If you aren't up and about soon after 9a, the kids are allowed to come wake you up. It is an extra hour or two of sleep a week, but we are so behind after months with a newborn that it's only a tiny drop in the bucket of how much we really need to make up. Of course, a tiny drop is better than nothing.

Amanda was pretty close to rolling over on her own. She'd roll on her side, almost always from the right to the left, and would be about 95% there and then she'd roll back onto her back. Unlike my first two kids, who absolutely hated being on their stomachs, Amanda doesn't mind it and I think even enjoys it. Occasionally she will cry after being on her belly for too long, but usually she plays happily for quite awhile. She didn't care that she couldn't roll over, she was happy with her 95% performance, but that wasn't good enough for Charlie. So he and the kids showed her what to do and now over she goes whenever she wants.

It's not that I don't want her to be able to roll over, I do. I'd like her to make all of her developmental milestones. It's just so easy when she can't move. You put her down, go get a load of laundry to fold, and when you come back she's still there. In the same place. Now, who knows where she'll be when I come back. With her head stuck under the coffee table, feet in the fireplace, or whole body under the kitchen table.

If she was the only child, I wouldn't be that worried. However, we have other kids who drop lots of food on the floors and are not so good at picking up their toys. Little toys like Legos and Polly Pockets and Little Ponies, all with tiny pieces that Amanda would love to shove in her mouth and choke on. The kids kind of understand what choking means, but I think they'd have to really see it to understand and I'm not ready for that demonstration.

The problem with rolling over is that it leads to crawling, then walking, then running. Then my baby won't be my baby anymore. I won't be able to just pick her up and take her wherever I want without protest. She won't be hopelessly in love with her mother. Instead she'll be one of these big kids that test me and say no and talk back. Hopefully by then the older ones will be a little bit easier, but I don't think so. If they are anything like my siblings and I were as kids, they'll probably just gang up on me. Sorry Mom.

So yes, I'm excited that she is rolling over, but I also would have been happy with my plump little baby lying still and waiting for me to come back for just a little bit longer.