New Year, New Skill

Yesterday morning, Gabe decided to impress me by rolling over for the first time!

I had put him on his tummy, which usually means there'll be about 10 seconds until a steady stream of cooing turns into a steady stream of emphatic noise-making which turns into non-stop whimpering which then works up to full-on crying, head buried in his arm on the floor. Sometimes he'll rally in the midst of it and raise his chest back off the floor, hoping to get my attention about his tragic plight. And sometimes he doesn't even have the energy to keep crying, and ends up just laying there, sucking on his hand, exhausted by the ordeal. This whole process can take anywhere from 1 minute to 7 minutes, depending on the mood Gabe's in. Observe:

"Hey, a different view of the world!"

"But maintaining this view is work..."

"And I'm not so sure I'm enjoying this work..."

"I'll bet I can see the same view just fine from a bit lower."

"This isn't fun anymore."

"Save me from this torture!"

"DID YOU HEAR ME? I SAID IT'S TORTURE!"

"Oh, nevermind."

But yesterday morning, Gabe decided he wasn't having any of our normal tummy time routine. I put him on his tummy, he arched his back, went up on his hands, and rolled himself over! Shocked, though not truly surprised in the big scheme of things - after all, I do have the requisite parent gene that assumes the innate brilliance of my child - I put him on his tummy again...and he rolled again. And so I put him on his tummy again...and he rolled again! Six times we did this dance of "are you really this brilliant? why yes Mom, I'm this brilliant!". After the fourth time I called Bret in, lest Gabe decide he was only going to show me his new trick. But Gabe wanted to show off for Dad too, so we both got to see it.

[This is where the tale turns bleak, and in retrospect, where I believe I made my error.]

After the sixth roll over, Gabe quickly went through the noise-making, whimper, full-on crying phases of our regular routine. So I picked him up and, triumphant about my accomplishment - oops! did I say "my"?? of course I meant "Gabe's" - I called my mom to brag. I shared the news and Gabe cooed his confirmation on speakerphone.

My mom said "Wow! Isn't that early to be rolling over?"

[This was likely Gabe's first hint about the truly rare nature of his brilliance.]

I said "I don't know for sure, I think maybe it is...I'll look it up!" And then I said something appropriately self-deprecating - oops! did I say "self"?? of course I meant "Gabe" - about the possibility of it being a fluke and not a lasting occurrence, all the while imagining Olympic Gold medals adorning our mantel - and we don't even have a mantel!

I looked in my "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week" book and the first reference to rolling over is in week 15! (Gabe is in week 10).

So I call out to Bret, who was in his office, "Rolling over doesn't even come up until week 15!"

[And this was likely Gabe's confirmation of previously referenced suspected brilliance.]

Later in the day I tried to capture Gabe's new trick on film.

No dice. But Bret had him on his tummy again in the afternoon and he rolled over then.

Last night we hosted a little New Year's Eve gathering with Bret's sisters and their boyfriends, and I tried to have Gabe show them his new trick.

Still no dice.

Apparently my child is not a circus monkey who performs tricks on command. Who knew?

Today Gabe rolled over again, but as soon as I got the camera out, I got this:

"Oh hi Mom, I didn't see you there...oh, you've got the camera..."

"No no, I wasn't doing anything in particular...just hanging out...heheheh"

I have been bested by a 2.5 month old.