Looking back, looking ahead

It is amazing to go back and read my blog from the beginning. One of my friends recently asked on our message board "What was your LO's first word?" Sadly, I couldn't remember. I thought I'd go back and read through the blog to figure it out.

I discovered two things quickly: One, I must have "mom brain." I thought for sure our kids said their first word around 9 months. I thought they did a lot of things developmentally a lot sooner than they actually did. Is this a common mom thing? Rose colored glasses? Which led me to discovery number two:

Holy cow. How did we make it through all of that? And holy cow, how did more red flags not go up with all of the things we were seeing? No wonder Summy didn't want to get in the tub! No wonder he would stand or bear weight. How cute I thought it was that Summy would spend hours watching every individual finger move, or move his arms back and forth over and over...

And Jack...not gaining weight, throwing up all the time, not able to suck on a sippy, or nurse, or pick up puffs with a pincher grasp.

Sigh.

I don't know if knowing what I know now would have changed much then, it just breaks my heart. I wish there were a handbook, or a network, or a system to tell you when these abnormal things are happening that it's part of a bigger picture.