Mommy's Developmental Milestones

Today, I installed the convertible car seat in the Jeep....  the one that has been sitting in our house for about six months, but which I have been reluctant to use because I am so attached to being able to leave him sleeping in the infant bucket and just unclip the bucket and go about my business.  He did end up falling asleep in the car on the way home... and then I successfully transferred him sleeping from the seat in the car to his bed for the duration of his nap.  I conquered a fear today, and maybe I'm growing as a parent.  I did it!

Also today, we went to "Baby Time" for kids 0-2 at the library for the second time (we went last week with Gma Joyce).  Last week I was very paranoid about him tackling other kids and taking their toys away, and so I hovered over him the whole time, watching like a hawk.  I tried to reign myself in a little bit this week, telling myself that if he's ever going to functional properly in social situations, I should probably let him figure it out a little bit.  Not to mention that he's such a social kid -- it's not like I should be terribly worried.

So today I hung back and watched him tear off crawling across the floor.  And when he got to a smaller baby... he pulled up short and sat next to her!  I was sure he was just going to crawl right over her head.  But he didn't!

Then he spied a toy he wanted and a little one-year-old girl who was smaller than him was playing with it.  He crawled up to her and took it away... and then she took it right back!  He looked at her an blinked, then looked at me across the room, then looked back at her.  Then he crawled to another toy that no one was playing with.

It's funny because I have no real trouble letting him do or try physical things on his own without too much over-worrying interference (climbing stairs, reorganizing my kitchen cabinets, etc.), but when it comes to interacting with other kids, perhaps I project my own introversion onto him and want him to be more cautious?  I guess I have to learn to let him be himself.  One step at a time.