frog sitting

Today Benjamin is 5 months old. And he is sitting like a champ. So much so that when he does eventually topple over, I find it takes me by surprise. Today we broke out the playpen his grandma gave him so he could have a place to sit and play surrounded by soft surfaces.

I learned a couple of interesting things today from BabyCenter.com's weekly mailing:

What's more, making use of the new perspective gleaned from sitting up helps her cognitive development, too. At first, she'll only be able to "frog sit" (with a hunched back and arms forward for support) for a few minutes. Gradually, her balance and strength will improve and before long she'll be sitting up on her own — probably by around 6 or 7 months.

So what I called protositting is called "frog sitting" ...

Seems appropriate.

While some babies adopt rolling as their primary mode of ground transportation for a while, others skip it altogether and move on to sitting, lunging, and crawling. As long as your child continues to gain new skills and shows interest in getting around and exploring his environment, don't worry.

Now that is a relief. As proud as I am of my little froggy for sitting a month or two ahead of schedule — not frog sitting anymore, but gen-u-ine sitting — I've had some concern about the fact that he has stopped rolling over. When his mother does tummytime with him, he tries and fails. Can't remember to get his arm out of the way.

- papa