Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Choice to Walk

With three kids at all different ages our house is always in a constant state of transition. Someone is always learning something new. Take this week for instance, J is perfecting her reading skills, A learned how to make her bed and put on eye shadow (two very good skills to have when you are 3) and S learned to hit a ball off a tee. Now, hitting a ball off a tee might not seem as if it is not a huge deal, but S is 15 months and he doesn't walk. That is right, he doesn't walk! He amazes me, he can stand up pick up a bat and hit a ball, but walking, oh no, why would you want to do something like that. That isn't a life skill or anything!

I love my son, but he drives me crazy. He is choosing not to walk, something that will make his life (and mine) much easier. Did I also mention that he is almost 30lb, not a light thing to be carrying everywhere! I know I sound obsessive, but I just don't get it. Why would hitting a ball be a more important skill then walking? The girls walked at 10 and 11 months, perfectly respectible times to start cruising around. Why the heck isn't he!

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that kids choose what they want to learn to do not parents. We read to our children, but J decided it was time for her to learn to read, so she did it. A likes anything that is fancy and glittery, so learning to put on eyeshadow was a must. S loves to see balls go as far as they can, hence hitting one off a tee is a great thing. I would not have chosen that skill for S but it was important to him. I just pray that walking becomes important soon, it might be a little embarrassing to have a 15 year old crawling around but I'm guessing he could hit a ball like no other!

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