Let's roll

I know I'm not supposed to compare my sons. I know, I know, I know. They're totally different people who will do things on their own timeframes when they're ready, and it doesn't matter if they do things alike. Blah blah y blah.

But let's face it. We all do it, even if it's just in benign ways. For example, it doesn't matter to me if Andrew does things at the same age that William did things, but part of me just sort of expects them to be similar anyway. So it still took me a little off-guard (in a pleasant way, of course) when Andrew suddenly decided to start rolling over yesterday. William rolled over for the first time shortly before he turned six months old, but Andrew won't even be five months old until Saturday. And yet, there he was, rolling onto his tummy, right there in front of me. "Hey, he's ahead of schedule!" was my first thought. Ahead of William's schedule, sure. But I guess Andrew figured he was ready, and his schedule is the only one that matters to him.

Actually, it was kind of funny. I put Andrew down on his quilt in the front room. He was lying on his back. William was sprawled out on the floor next to him, playing with his iPod. Then I left the room to go check on the tomato sauce that was simmering on the stove. When I dragged myself back into the room a few minutes later, Andrew was somehow on his tummy.

"Hey, William, did you do that?" I asked my elder child, gesturing to his baby brother. "Andrew's on his tummy. Did you help him roll over?"

"No," William said, still glued to his iPod. "He did it himself."

"Are you sure?" I asked again. "He was on his back. Are you sure you didn't help him roll over onto his tummy?"

"No, Mommy," William said again. "Andrew rolled himself over."

Because William, like many four-year-olds, can be a little bit of an unreliable narrator, I was still skeptical. I flipped Andrew back onto his back and sat down at my desk. A minute or two later, Andrew casually rolled over onto his stomach, and I squealed in delight. William looked up from the iPod and began to smile and laugh at Andrew, too. We both made a big old fuss over him, and I rolled him back onto his back to see if he'd roll over again. And good-natured baby that he is, he indulged us again. I even got him on video once.

And of course, y'all know me. I had to text my family, post it on Facebook and generally use modern technology to make a nuisance of myself, letting people know about my genius baby who can roll! over! all! by! himself! (See? Here I am, doing in here!)

Later on, he rolled from his stomach to his back, too. I haven't captured that one on film yet, but he was practicing some more this evening, so perhaps that will come soon.

My only concern: this doesn't mean that he's going to crawl earlier than William did, too, is he? Because that would be very inconvenient. I'd kind of like him to stay stationary for awhile. Because of course we all know that kids are all about being convenient for their parents.