Lower your Expectations... please

Moms always want the best for their children... and expects the best from them. We can never single out 'expectation' from what is commonly observed in children even during early development. From the earliest time they walk, talk and make things happen to their health regimine, like eating nearly everything fed to them. But what if they don't possess such capability at their age, do we feel disappointed towards our kids?

At this time, I myself is expecting positively from Xam especially that babies at his age are seen with dramatic progress in terms of physical and mental growth. My observations are focused on his motor skills, language, health, and behavior towards his environment and the factors that affects each aspect of his development.

WALKING

Observation: Xam at 1 year and 1 1/2 months can't walk by himself yet. His heels don't touch the ground and whenever supported, he tiptoes as he take a step.

Factors: One possible factor is his early use of walker. It makes going across the house easy for him that when we took it away, the fear of trying to walk started to emanate. His fear then became a factor of not taking any chance to start from pulling up his legs to standing up alone. Although there are rare instances that I get to see him try but shaken once his body is about to straighten.

LANGUAGE

Observation: At his age, he can babble words to phrases using mix of all the vowels and even pronounce 'a' singularly as in the alphabet which is a sign of normal speech development. The usual ramble of "mama" or "mommy" and "daddy" is quite evident.

Factors: Early communication in full words, phrases and sentences help develop the normal flow of language skills. The support of physical example of the common things that the baby encounters is a plus factor, not only to his vocabulary but to his visualization and familiarization skills.

HEALTH

Observation: Though G6PD deficient, Xam is mostly active, crawls and stands (with support) fast, loves to be strolled and his tolerance to pain is apparent.

Factors: Proper nutrition before and after birth, complete and regular immunization and regular intake of vitamins and other food supplement.

INTERACTION WITH OTHER PEOPLE

Observation: Xam is irritant and doesn't want to play with his cousins his age but has a strong bond with his aunts who are already in grade school and college.

Factor: Has not been exposed early to an environment wherein people in all ages are present. His behavior could only be a sign of stranger anxiety.

MOM'S STANDPOINT

However we do some screening and evaluation on our child's growth and development as we want to foresee, we would still be missing some points in our checklist as we are not dealing with them 24 hours a day. As we try to mitigate the impact, we shouldn't forget that our babies are born unique and they have their own pattern of development. Sooner or later we realize that they have their own natural way of self-melioration and what we have been expecting at the beginning is actually in the end the unexpected.