Indicators of growth

At Riley's checkup on Friday the nurse asked if he was stacking blocks. "Yessssssss," I slowly, my eyes moving shiftily around the room as I coated the nurse's clipboard with a fine spray of saliva. "Uh, yes. Absolutely. Why, he's stacking things night and day, creating giant towering structures the likes mankind has never seen before! BOW BEFORE MY SON, THE ARCHITECTURAL GENIUS."

The architectural genius currently blowing a glistening snot bubble from his left nostril while methodically pounding his own foot with a plastic cabinet lock, that is.

Actually, I don't really have any clue if Riley can stack blocks or not, because he doesn't have any blocks. He had some giant Lego type blocks for a while, but I kept finding them in inconvenient places: under the fridge, dropped casually into the cat's food bool, deeply embedded in the sole of my foot, etc.

So now of course I'm wondering if I have been stunting his growth by denying him access to blocks. I didn't think blocks were one of those developmental necessities, like oxygen or healthy food or the Noggin Network, but it was right there on the nurse's (moistened) clipboard: "STACKING BLOCKS?"

I always feel woefully unprepared for these progress-related questions. I wish they'd ask something easy, like "Is your child able to pull his entire arm out of his zip-up pajamas, so he's half-naked when you get him up in the morning, his torso partially exposed and most of his sleeve sodden from being lustfully chewed?" -- because if that were a recognized milestone my son would be gratifyingly right on target.

Comments

[Ashlea]

Why do they assume that every child has blocks? As you said.. you don't know if he is because Riley doesn't have any. >> I think some of the child developing milestone stuff is BS.. like the stacking blocks things. It could be "Is he stacking anything or exhibiting any behavior similiar to stacking blocks?"

:3

[Nichole]

I'm sure he stacks in Daycare... you could ask them.

My kids never had blocks but they like to line up their cars... it's similar in my opinion! lol

[Jacqueline]

Does throwing his blocks at mama's head count? If so, then my child has certainly mastered that.

[g~]

Well, how a this one...at my daughter's 18 month checkup, I had to fill out a questionaire. One of the questions was, "Can your child draw a vertical line if you draw one first?" I was like, "Whaa...? Like I would know to ask her to do that? Why, sure! I ask her to do that brain-enhancing stuff all of the time." Heck, I'm just happy for five minutes of peace before she starts coloring the wall, the cat, the floor, her face, eating lead, etc. Also, with child number one, I was asked at one of his later assessments (in between two and three) if he could cut with scissors. Are you CRAZY? Like I would let him use SCISSORS? Around my house? Around his sister's HAIR? Sha. I answered yes to both questions. BTW, I checked and he could use scissors (and create a bazillion microscopic pieces of paper for me to sclean up) but my daughter could NOT copy the line. Oh well.
BUT...at least *we* have blocks.
Too bad I put them away because they were throwing them at each other. So much for reinforcing brain development...it's too much mess to clean up.

[Beth]

First time reader - cracking up... Same thing with my son. Umm, he's great at finding hidden cherrios, and he LOVES to eat fuzzies off the floor. but the whole block stacking thing, not so much!

[Swistle]

My firstborn's pediatrician always gave me a little developmental form to fill out while I was waiting for the appointment. One of the questions was--and I am not even slightly kidding or changing the wording--"Does your child regard a raisin?" Does my child WHUH? It turned out the question was supposed to be about whether he could focus on a small object. Oh, like a choking-hazard-sized object? Like a raisin, which it says on my infant care sheet FROM THIS DOCTOR not to give to babies?

Another one, when he was I think 9 months old (it had to be before 10 months, because that's when we moved away) was, "Can your child hold a pencil?" Uh. Can he hold a sharp pointy object? Guh, I guess I don't know the answer to that question.

[Bethiclaus]

We just had our 12-month. I was a stellar parent. I couldn't answer ANY of the milestone questions. Hell, she sleeps ten hours at night. That's the most important milestone in MY world.

[Linda S.]

Swistle: ha, that's like those annoying What To Expect When You Want to Worry Your Damn Brains Out books where on the SAME MONTH it says 1) your baby "should" be able to focus on a "small object such as a raisin" and OMG DO NOT FEED BABY RAISINS.

[Colleen]

If you are looking for some blocks... these are our one of our favorite things right now.

http://www.amazon.com/Step2-7566KR-Sturdy-Jumbo-Blocks/dp/B000ALH16K/ref=pd_bbs_5/104-9268126-8972739?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1175475781&sr=8-5

They are soft... so if they get thrown they don't hurt anyone or break anything (major plus!) The only negative is if Riley is a kid who can't resist chewing something to pieces... they are this soft foam stuff... and you could take a bite out of them!

Plus... if you haven't used your amazon gift card yet... they're on amazon!

[Jenny H.]

My theory is that these morons/doctors/nurses who ask these asinine questions do not actually HAVE children of their own. Who in the hell is going to "let" their small child use scissors/pencils? What are we, stupid?

Thank god our pediatrician is a wonderful woman that I completely adore. And she has kids!

And the blocks? I wouldn't worry about that. I have also been known to "accidently" toss those little pointy bastards out. Generally after stepping on them in the middle of the night, half asleep, while cursing like a sailor!

[Jenny H.]

One more thing? How do they manage to get only one arm out of their jammies? Mine did it all the time. They thought it was hilarious!

[carey]

oh, back in the day (when they came up with these types of things) all kids had blocks- there wasn't the selection of toys there are now. and since pretty much everyone had blocks, how they played with them would let the doctor see how the childs motor skills were developing. stacking blocks takes eye hand coordination and such, that is what the doctor is interested in.
on another note, i find it interesting that so many people have doctors that have you fill out forms or answer questions. little beans doctor just watches her and talks to her, gives things to play with then asks if i have any concerns or quesions. very informal and comfortable, at least for me it is.

[Jennifer]

Tyler has blocks, but like you said you find them all over the house. You are constantly picking them up so they don't get tripped over and he throws them and they really hurt!! He can however build quite a tall tower. Another thing he likes to stack is his cars. Does that count? He also likes to line up all of his cars in a row. I think that should count too. Pretty smart if you ask me!

[MRW]

BWAH - "does your child regard a raisin?" Like it's not hard enough figuring out whether your kid "meets the milestones" or whatever anyway - when they ask about it in a way that makes absolutely no sense it adds that extra layer of "what??"

[Danell]

Blocks would mean certain death for me, as I am quite gifted in the clumsiness department. I have managed to embed AN ENTIRE BARN into the sole of my foot before (not just trip over it, but stepped down onto it)...it felt super.

[Amnesia]

I am right there with you on this one!!! Laughed my ass off - all the while thinking how oddly familiar the story seemed. There is no block stacking going on at my house. Legos exist only for the sport of dumping them out, turning the big tub over and using it to gain access to things normally out of our boys' reach.

[laughing mommy]

Hee! We used to go in to get our daughter in the morning and find her half naked too. You'd think she would have been cold and started crying. But no. Just happy to be half unclothed.

[Matthew Miller]

Issues of pushy standardized development schedules aside, you should get the kid some blocks. Blocks are awesome toys.

[Lovemydox]

Got redirected here from Amalah. I know EXACTLY what you mean! I was completely taken aback by the "scribble" question on that damn Denver test thingy. I was like - "Scribble? With what?" She suggested a crayon or a magna doodle. "Magna doodle?" Should I have thought to purchase a magna doodle for a 15 month old. There needs to be some sort of preparation for these growth assessments - kind of like how schools prepare the kids for leap tests.