Feeling Frustrated

I think the title sums up how both Kiya and I are feeling. I am frustrated because I want to help her and she is frustrated because she wants to be on the go.

I know that given the opportunities and the time Kiya will be on the go. Whether she chooses to crawl or skip that and go straight to walking is yet to be seen. She for awhile would scoot on her butt and still does a little but doesn't get very far. The problem is she so badly wants to get places and reach things. She is so frustrated. I can see it on her face and I can hear it as she screams at me. She drops a toy and it falls out of reach and she looks at me and screams in pure frustration. She will try to reach for it and try again and then just gives up. You can almost hear the sigh as she stops trying.

She does roll over but not often. She LOVES to stand which for a baby who couldn't bare hardly any weight on her legs 5 months ago is great. She will take a few steps when we hold her fingers and took a sideways step while holding on to the coffee table. She doesn't pull herself up on anything yet but if you get her started she will do the rest.

She is not outside of any norm for her gross motor skills. She is still right in that target range. We do think there are a few things holding her back including the possibility that she was premature and her low birth weight. Things will not know for sure but are highly likely. The IAC we used when we got out referral is guessing she was a few weeks early and probably weighed less than 3 or 4 lbs at birth since she was barely 6lbs at 6 weeks.

Her fine motor skills are actually pretty advanced for her age. She has mastered the pincher grasp, helps to dress and undress herself, can drink from a sippy cup unassisted, can feed herself, she transfer toys from hand to hand, puts things on her head, she waves bye bye and claps. Her verbal skills are also progressing nicely and I can't wait for her to say mama but she is stuck on dada which I admit is pretty adorable.

I just wish I could wave the magic mommy wand to help her. I know she needs to do this by herself and I need to be a strong parent and not give in. I have to learn to be okay with her frustration (and mine) and hope that frustration translates itself into movement. When we talked with our doctor she is not concerned. She said the fact that the desire is there is great and that growth and development are progressing is great.

So the game plan is to give her the opportunities to figure things out and keep encouraging her.