Rolling over

Samuel is struggling to turn over these days. He rolls onto his side from his back by heaving his hips over first, and then tries to roll his shoulders over to his front. He hasn’t figured out how to get the underside arm out from under him, it keeps getting stuck in front and he can’t complete the turn. And there he lies, face and hips mooshed into the blanket, shoulders stubbornly refusing to follow. I watch him try and try, panting and straining with effort, only to fail yet again. He has succeeded a couple of times, but most of the time he doesn’t make it. Yet.

What amazes me is his complete dedication to the job. He gets frustrated in the moment, only to rest for a little while and try again, over and over. I am so tempted to just give him the extra push, or pull his arm out from under him, but so far I resist until he is completely frustrated before I help him. I will always remember this dedication to learning whenever I try and fail. All too often I want to be good at something right away, particularly physical activity. When I learned to snow-board a few years ago, the worst part was falling, again, and again, for three days until I finally got the hang of it enough to do my first turn. After that, I still fell almost every turn (in the other direction) but the falling was bearable because I’d done it once and knew I could do it again. Until then, each fall was another testament to my lack of coordination – doubly painful since I’m usually quite quick in picking up physical skills. (Except when it comes to baby strollers, but that’s another rant).

Samuel doesn’t think any of these thoughts, of course. He has no concept of failure, only of frustration. He only knows he wants to turn over and is going to do it, by gosh or by golly (cute saying, eh? Heard an old gaffer say it once). Human babies are amazing. Until now I always thought the tone of admiration in mothers' voices at each little development to be arising from maternal infatuation, but now I think its true admiration and awe at how much their babies accomplish and the effort they put into getting there.

Makes me wonder about people who get injured or paralyzed and have to relearn skills – the older we get, the harder it is, partially I’m sure to all the judgments we make about our progress or lack of it.