He rolls!

Ronan took a giant leap yesterday -- or, rather, a roll! The nanny called me (Mom) at work to tell me that our little bug spent the whole morning rolling from back to tummy and laughing. She was almost as excited as I was and I was pretty ecstatic. I then called Christian and we both sat there on the phone saying "Can you believe it? He rolled. Our little boy rolls. He is SO the best." We were both insanely thrilled like, well, insane parents. I don't know, there's something about passing these "milestones" that is really sweet.

I should say that we haven't thought much about the milestones in general -- like we both don't know when babies are "supposed" to flip over, sit up on their own, pass a rattle from hand to hand, etc.... But this is so exciting that maybe we'll start to pay more attention! :-)

The night before the Big Roll, Ronan spent an hour in the dark on the bed with me, trying desperately to roll. It was very amusing to watch him grab his feet, tip over, and then arch his back as if he were reaching for something waaaay over his head. He wasn't his usual babbling self so I knew something was up. He pursed his lips and grunted. He held his breath and spittled. He did a full-blown weightlifter's groan... but he only made it about 80% over to his tummy. The sticking point was what to do with the arm that gets rolled under.... keep it up by his face? keep it flat against his body? He didn't know, and to be honest I wasn't sure how to do it either so I just watched him figure it out. He finally got too tired and frustrated that he fell asleep!

Clearly, during 10 hours of sleep, he was able to divine the correct approach, so come morning he "flipped over no problem" as our nanny put it. And he kept flipping and flipping! The funny thing is Ronan doesn't even like being on his tummy (he still gasps and spits up), yet he's compelled to roll over. Now that is amazing. You put him on his back and he immediately flips over! I'm in awe of this whole growth process and how driven it is. It's scary and wonderful to think that there is absolutely no stopping his momentum now... Tonight on his belly, he actually made some headway to get on all fours (yikes). Coupled with his penchant for standing and bouncing on his legs, we're a bit afraid he'll get mobile a little too soon for Mom and Dad. ;-)