Chris and I have opened up a can of worms, it seems, and there’s no closing it. Once our reluctant roller finally took a chance and started flipping over, it has been impossible to stop her.
Not only does she roll merrily on the floor, exploring her rapidly expanding ecosystem; she also motors around her crib like never before and cannot be trusted to stay put on a bed or, heaven forbid, a sofa. Give her a few feet of space and step back, and our little daughter gleefully tumbles about until something or someone stops her. The only thing that distracts her from flipping and flopping about is her occasional obsession with lying in a loose interpretation of the plank position, with her legs wiggling busily but (thus far) uselessly behind her.
Normally, her newfound mobility is an adorable thing, but unfortunately, one of her favorite opportunities to demonstrate her budding expertise arises at diaper-changing time. No longer do we have a baby who lies pliably on the change table whilst the hazmat team (aka Mommy) does its work. No, when it comes time to sanitize our wee biohazard’s blast zone, the little one delights in squirming and flailing and doing her very best impression of a flounder on a hook. Her insistence on flipping on her tummy is directly proportional to the severity of the diaper damage. Thus, if her Pampers and cute little velour sleeper contain a “spill” of FEMA-deserving severity, you can bet that Maddi will be twisting madly about on the change table, content only when she is lying on her front and the hazmat team is covered in, well, hazardous materials.
This is what you get when you wish for your baby to roll over like other babies. Somewhere, a mom who figured out how to neatly wipe poop off a wild, flopping baby three months ago is laughing.
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In other news, Maddi has learned her very first cute baby trick. You know the kind — some babies give kisses, some slap high fives, others clap. Maddi is a waver. She doesn’t have a dainty princess wave like her cousin Emily just yet — hers is more of a full-body wave, much like a dog that wags its entire body along with its tail. We started teaching her how to wave a week or so ago when Emily did her princess wave and I suddenly realized that somehow, baby tricks (which I so anticipated before there was an actual baby to do them) had gotten lost in the shuffle of daily life.
But I am pleased to announce that, after an intensive one-week seminar in waving “hi” and “bye-bye,” Maddi’s got it all figured out and she will be delighted to show you next time she sees you.
And here’s a picture of our 30-WEEK-OLD baby!! I can’t believe she is this old. I also can’t believe she’s on her tummy and smiling.