Why should babies get all the good stuff?

You ever look at the cool stuff kids get, and think about how much you wish they made the same things for adults?  Well, in news that would seem wonderful, they do.  Unfortunately, the actual effect is deeply, deeply, disturbing.

Because I am a kind and benevolent blogstress, I've scoured the seedy underbelly of the internet for the real-life versions of childhood products that should have been left to nostalgia.  I now present the sanitized version of my findings for my readers; though my mind is permanently scarred, it's not too late for you.

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Breaking News: Giant Baby is still Giant

My son, the 8-pound preemie himself, had his 18-month check-up today. He scaled in at 31.2 pounds weight, 34.5" inches tall, and 51 cm head circumference. He was in the 95th percentile all the way across the board.

Which puts him at roughly the same size as the average 2 1/2 to 3-year-old.

So, it looks like his growth rate is not going to slack off any time soon. Which is cool, because Mommy likes the idea of retiring young to be supported by her professional athlete son.

But, as it turns out, apparently my kid is really smart, too. I'm not especially surprised; I figured he was bright. But they gave him an assessment at his pediatrician's and he scored in the 87th percentile on cognitive development and 95th on motor.

However, now that I've found out my kid is really advanced for his age, it makes me curious how he is doing in other, less easily measured areas of development. So I'm doing some assessing of my own...

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Baby-wearing: Of slings and harnesses...

One of the tenets of attachment parenting with which I completely agree is baby-wearing. Not because I think my child is going to be psychologically traumatized by being pushed around in a stroller, but because it's pretty dang convenient.

As I've mentioned before (for instance, in the title of this blog), my son was a huge baby, and I was often recovering from abdominal surgeries in his early months. I never got him one of those carseats that doubles as a carrier because I couldn't imagine ever being able to lift the thing. My baby was heavy enough without adding 20 lbs.

Strollers seemed like an okay option, but they required two hands, and my car is kind of tiny. (The few times I used his stroller, it had to ride in the front passenger seat, since there was nowhere else to put it.)

So I had one of the Munchkin brand Jelly Bean reversible slings shown in the picture. And, in the words of "Yo Gabba Gabba", "THAT...WAS...AWESOME!" (What? DJ Lance Rock says it every time after "The Super Music Friends Show". Hatas, don't even be pretending like you don't know.)

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