The waiting game

I've decided that being a mum is just one big waiting game.

In the beginning, you wait for the 'right time' to have a baby (note: there's no real right time, just a time when you feel 'ok, I can do this, I've found the right person / I'm financially stable / I want to add meaning to my life / I want to buy cute little clothes' - delete as appropriate).

Then you wait for the right time in the month to give baby making a try, ahem, followed by many minutes waiting for a blue line to appear on that little stick that will change everything forever.

Then you wait nine months or so for your baby to be welcomed into the world. Pregnancy alone involves all kinds of waiting, from waiting for midwife appointments and tests results to waiting for your bump to show, to feel the first kick and for some, to find out if you're a blue or pink supporter.

There's the whole matter of giving birth too, which for some poor women can involve a lot of waiting and even if baby does come along in a timely manner, it will still probably feel like an age due to the pain you might be feeling (I've got to be honest - childbirth involves pain, at least it did for me!).

Then baby arrives and you spend the next couple of months in a whirlwind of nappy changing and feeds every two hours and functioning on zero sleep (yep, some of the clichés are true). All the while, you're waiting. Waiting for a routine to form. Waiting for your baby to sleep a little longer. Waiting for your first interaction, where baby properly looks at you and knows who you are.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

It's enough to make even the most patient of people go over the edge.

Babies go through so many changes in their first 12 months on this earth, it can be really hard as a new mum to know what to expect and to follow the stages. Ethan has been through all of the above, he's been weaning, he's started teething and now, we're waiting for him to start crawling.

Tick, tock...

He had his monthly assessment at nursery last week and they had to mark him as 'red' for physical development as he's 11 months old and not yet crawling. He's been sitting and leaning for ages, he pushes himself right up when he's on his tummy, he can pivot and he's been scooting on his bottom for the past couple of weeks. He's even learnt to reverse. But no proper attempt has been made yet to move forwards, one knee in front of another. Let alone one foot in front of another.

As well as the waiting, it's hard not to compare your child with all the other children you might know. All the babies I know from my yummy mummies group have started crawling or even walking, even those who are younger than Ethan, and Facebook is always full of posts along these lines.

I know Ethan will get there in his own time. Every baby is different. There's nothing to worry about.

All that's left to do is wait.