adventures in child development

I studied child development in university. Then I had 5 children of my own where I applied my book knowlegde to practical, every day situations. The two did not always coincide but I managed to get all five off spring raised to adulthood with minimal emotional/physical scarring. Understanding child development is a big part of the job I have now. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the stages of development in infants and I use the phrase "developmental milestones" regularly. But the other day I learned something completely new.

As I was chatting with Diana the other night, she was excited about Logan's progress. He has been breathing without a machine. He's been working hard to master the "suck, swallow and breathe" routine that goes with eating on his own. He is awake and alert for hours in the day. He is gaining weight and actually looking more and more like a little man every day. Then she told me that the doctor was also relieved that Logan had finally reached an important stage in his development: "the houseplant stage".

I was unfamiliar with that stage of infant development and asked Diana, "What the heck kind of stage is that!!??"

Diana was elated as she explained why the houseplant stage was so important in Logan's list of developmental milestones. "The houseplant stage is when you just feed him and watch him grow!"

logan "sucking back" 15-20 ml of mother's milk

every three to four hours....

we LOVE watching logan grow

The houseplant stage is the best stage so far. It's awesome and wonderful and miraculous all at the same time!

logan just a few days after his unexpected arrival

fragile and teeny-tiny; just over 1 pound

logan rocking the "houseplant" stage

of infant development- over 4 pounds

Go Logan!