Arlo is turning into a toddler. Someone once told me that every new phase with a baby comes with its own pros and cons. In my experience, this is very true. If it wasn't, parenting would be fairly straight forward and easy to figure out after some period of adjustment.
In Arlo's case, he's throwing temper tantrums over every little thing -- diaper changes, picking up toys, eating. At this stage in the game, I have a hard time feeling confident about what to do. Our pediatrician suggests that we don't respond because a reaction will only feed the behavior. Who knew sweet little babies could turn into master manipulators so young?
Ignoring a screaming, flailing baby is really hard. My gut reaction is to say, "Arlo, stop it. Enough of that nonsense. Let's do something else." Ok, it's more than a gut reaction, it's something I've tried but it doesn't work. For some reason, engaging with him just makes it worse, and he is not cognitively developed enough to respond to rationalization.
What did I do?
On the plus side, Arlo is getting more and more curious and and fun to interact with. We've been trying to get him to use sign language to communicate, and he can sign for "milk" and "finished/all done" but we're still working on "more", "change" (as in diaper change), and a lot of other practical signs.
I have to admit that I want to give up on the sign language thing. It seems to work well for some people and not as well for others. We've been trying for months and months, and while we don't sign as constantly or consistently as we probably should, Arlo doesn't seem too rushed to communicate (beyond screaming, of course).
Anyway, back to the fun department. Arlo is walking! He can walk between Ryan and I when we sit 6 or so feet apart. He can walk to us from a piece of furniture. One unexpected part of this walking thing is how important confidence is to a baby. I really believe that Arlo could walk all the time if he wanted to, but he gets nervous, looks for a hand or something to hold onto, and sits down.
I didn't realize how psychology is just as important as physiology. I always assumed a baby had an instinct to walk and decided to give it a try based on some natural urge. That's only part of the picture. It's exciting but terrifying at the same time because it means the stakes are increasing. We need to be more aware of what Arlo needs, provide what we can, and leave the rest up to him. For a neurotic control freak like me, that's really hard.
Circus Scholarship?
I will post a more up-to-date video within the next week, but this is a video from last week when Arlo was more unsure of his walking skills. Crazy!
