In 5 days, David will be 16 months. However, he still insists on crawling, so to me he’s a baby, not a toddler.
The doctor finds that this is fine, because, after all, his mother started walking at 17 months and his father started walking at 20 months. But I had a strange experience on Monday during a class I am taking David to. One of the parents, who was literally bursting at the seams with her second (?) child (she was actually due yesterday), was there — I had just met her that day — and made a comment that David should go see a physical therapist. Her intentions were good but I now understand (and it took 16+~9 months!) the whole advice warning you get when you get pregnant. “People are going to tell you to do this and that everyday,” I was told. “Don’t let it bother you.” It actually never did.
Then this incident came up, and this mother — whose daughter who was 18 months and was wearing leg braces — said “it was so helpful to have gone there!” That’s wonderful. My son was 6 weeks early, and again, I explained to this person that both my son’s parents were late walkers. I didn’t need to hear it. But the topic wasn’t dropped and I was very uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, I was at another class with David today and there were MANY babies in the same predicament as he was. A 16-month old was crawling while his twin brother was walking. A few other babies around the same age were not walking yet. You should not tell someone you don’t know that your kid needs to have PT. It’s not right at all.
Shifting gears here, we went on our first flights since David was 3 months old. Back then, it was a lot easier since he pretty much slept the whole way (I mean, after all, he was gestationally 1.5 months old and needed to sleep!). But this time around, I finally got it. Before I had a child, when I heard babies crying on the plane, I’d say “that parent needs to shut their kid up.” I was the insensitive person on the plane who didn’t understand. David was relatively okay going down to Florida with a few short screaming bouts, but he was definitely not as great going back up (it was a 6am flight but he should have slept–except he’s like me and doesn’t sleep on planes). I tried my best to keep him quiet but it was hard. And I understand the stares now. I guess if anyone ever says something in the future, I have the right response for them: “I guess you’ve never been a parent.”
Meanwhile, I am traveling alone with David in November and I am terrified. It’s going to be super hard but I’m going to be speaking at a conference and need to do it. Wish me luck…