Late bloomers

You know those moms who brag about how their kids were potty-trained at 18 months, walking at 10 months, and reading at the age of 2? I am not one of those moms. Mostly because I don't have those kind of kids. My kids don't tend to do things early. They don't even tend to do them on time.

Q was born six weeks late, so he has a bit of a pass, but he didn't crawl till he was about 14 months and finally started to walk when he was 19 months.

R was full term, so he doesn't have any excuses. He walked at 15 months.

I thought Lena might be the exception, but here she is, almost one, and not even crawling. She is however scooting to her chosen destinations on her bottom. Who needs crawling when you can do an awkward bum scooch to get where you need to go? I assume she will walk when she's good and ready, sometime between now and her second birthday.

 One thing my kids do seem to take to at an early age is talking. Lena already says a couple words like "doggie" and "uh-oh." R regularly makes up detailed songs in the car, and Q never seems to stop talking. This all results in a kind of constant din everywhere we go.

I am holding out hope that Lena will be an early potty trainer. The other two sure weren't.

So it must be something we are doing. Maybe they get procrastinating from us? Maybe we don't push them enough or maybe we are pushovers ourselves? Maybe we are just modern parents letting them grown at their own pace?

Whatever it is, my late bloomers seem just right to me, and I'd rather stay out of those overachiever mommy discussions anyway.

--MM