And then came Silvio

I have been so terrible lately at posting. I guess the Nastari-Case household has been busy. How could we not be with 3 small children? Anyway, I have been a bit worried about Silvio lately. You would think that by the third child, I would be incredibly relaxed about development. Oh no. Not when one is as neurotic as I. Of course, I am always comparing him to my other two children. Over the last week or so, I have begun to work on the video for 2007, so I have been looking at tons of video of Luca when he was the same age as Silvio. Luca was signing, crawling, pulling himself up, and gesturing. Silvio is scooching but not crawling and has not been incredibly communicative with us. So, I have been concerned about his development. Then the other day, we pulled out an old toy for Silvio that we had when Sofia was a baby. It is a silly toy that plays music when you successfully drop a ball into the elephant head (who thinks this stuff up anyway?). We showed him one time and he immediately grabbed the ball and dropped in into the hole. I thought that it was just a fluke, but he has continued to drop the ball into the head and then will look at us, waiting for us to dance to the music. So cute! Then the other day, Brian pulled out this racing ramp of Luca's and showed Silvio how to drop a car on the ramp. He immediately reached for a car and dropped it right onto the ramp. I went for our 9 month check-up and naturally, the pediatrician reassured me that he is definitely developing on an appropraite time line and she also reminded me that I can't compare him to our unusually verbal son, Luca. So true. Brian never once questioned Silvio's development but I feel responsible for him. We all know that mommy guilt does amazing things and makes us somewhat unreasonable at times. Since he is the third child, I often "station" him with a toy, so I always worry that it is my fault that he is not crawling, talking, or completing mathematical equations. Silvio is such an incredible baby and he is teaching me to be more patient and more understanding. He is taking in the world in his own special way and letting all of us know that we do things when we are ready. I know he is going to be an amazing child and I feel grateful to be able to watch him blossom, one scooch at a time.