Tummy time

Like a lot of upper twenty-somethings, Kevin and I had never heard the phrase "tummy time" until four months ago. Our peditrician mentioned it rather nonchalantly at our appointment when Alex was just four days old. "Try to give him a bit of tummy time each day," he advised while flipping Alex over onto his stomach. "It helps build his neck, arm and back muscles." Sounds simple enough. Little did we know how many conversations involving tummy time we would have in the next couple of months.

New moms talk about tummy time the way we used to talk about shoes. You cannot have a five minute conversation with a new mom without mentioning tummy time. "Does he like tummy time?" "I know I should give her more tummy time, but I hate to see her cry!" "Oh, look at her -- showing off with her tummy time!"

I find it quite amusing. First of all, being "good" at tummy time entails not crying. Really, that's all it takes to be good at tummy time! (I wish we used that criterion for other things in life -- I would be really good at a lot of things!) Secondly, some moms seem really upset when their children don't appear to like tummy time. Give him time, he'll catch on eventually -- it's not as if he is going to be five years old and still stuck on his back!

Alex was so "good" at tummy time when he was two months old, my mom friend Karen asked me, "So is you or your husband or a combination of the two of you that made your baby a Superbaby?"

Here are some pictures of Alex showing off his tummy time skills:






And Karen, to answer your question, Superbabies run on my side of the family.