Who knew I could care about thumb sucking?

Kasen is really starting to get the hang of her hands. She is grabbing toys and putting them in her mouth. Until recently, I never knew what a big accomplishment that was for a baby (or how excited I would get by such seemingly small changes). Now that she can move her hands more reliably - she can suck her thumb. Mom's everywhere know why this is great (sorry all those that think thumb sucking is the worst habit ever). A THUMB never falls on the floor of a bathroom, a THUMB never gets lost and a THUMB can never be out of reach in the middle of the night. If I believed in intelligent design, I would use thumbs as my evidence. Wait... nope evolution still wins... thumbs are advantageous to survival - quiet babies are MUCH easier to take care of.... :)

The last 3 months of development has seen Kasen go from: "What are these fleshy UFOs that keep appearing?"; to "I think those fleshy UFOs are ATTACHED!"; to "I think I can get these things to get stuff to my mouth" (a goal babies care A LOT about). She is still a little slow to open her hands, so sometimes her "grab" just punches things further away... I get frustrated for her, but she just keeps working at it. That must be the Karl genes. I mean look how happy she looks that she managed to get that thumb in her mouth!

So while thumb sucking is disparaged by some, I think it might be OK for us. It funny how much can make you feel guilty as a mom. While I try to be a duck when it comes to mom when it comes to outside influences on how I feel I am performing as a mom [as in the guilt rolls right off], everyone has their Achilles heel. I must admit - tummy time has been my weakness. As with thumb sucking, who knew I would care about OR even use the phrase "tummy time".

Right now, I admit I am obsessed by tummy time (I can't explain it).
I mean I signed up for Gymboree specifically to get more confident about tummy time (see Kasen with her "classmates"). Of course I mean ME getting more confident. I think it is hilarious I am so focused on it, I mean really, I imagine Kase will crawl/walk/run even if she never loves tummy time. It just seems like the first thing (of what will probably be a long list) I feel guilty about. As if my child's love or loathing of tummy time is based solely on my efforts.

Kasen has already shown she can decide what she likes without me. See her digging on the "Gymbo" clown? Yeah, GYMBO - gotta love that branding! Her fascination with this Gymboree clown bugs me. See, she has already found something to love that I hate. Teenage years should be fun.

So here is Kasen doing some tummy time - notice she has found her thumb and she sucked it the entire time she was on her tummy (10 minutes!!! - my PEPS friends will totally understand my excitement). The funny part is at this moment I was thinking: "does tummy time count if she isn't moving around?" Yeah, some duck I am. What was Kase thinking? My guess? My thumb is good, yuuuuuummmmmm.....

Wow, was that a long post. They sure won't all be this long (or their frequency will fall dramatically), but it felt good to get out. My high school English teacher would be so proud...