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View Full Version : Ummm, is my kid normal?



jojo2324
03-18-2003, 10:38 AM
Please offer some reassurance to an overly paranoid mommmy! Or at least some sort of hypothesis...

Here's the deal. We have this Fisher Price toy. We can't STAND it. Grampa gave it to the baby for Christmas and it makes way too much noise, plays awful music and is just obnoxious. For some reason I brought it out of hiding yesterday for the baby to play with. Guess what his new favorite toy is?!?! :P Of COURSE.

I shall do my best to describe it. Basically, there are three holes with a platform beneath it. You push balls through the holes and when that happens, music plays. The platform catches the balls. I guess it's supposed to teach cause and effect.

Gannon particularly loves the balls. He holds two at all times, leaving him...handless. So what to do with the third ball, just sitting there? Well, Gannon has decided to use his mouth. He leans forward, with both hands CLUTCHING the balls, and wraps his mouth around the third ball. Like he's bobbing for apples. Typically, the third ball goes through the hole and the tinny music starts to play.

What is that?!?! Is it normal? I don't think he is *quite* developed enough to think, "Oh, well, since my hands are otherwise occupied, I can use my mouth to push the ball through and get the music to play." Besides, when his hands are free he only picks the balls up, he doesn't push them through. So I don't even think that idea is there. I also don't think that he is trying to pick it up with his mouth. At this point, EVERYTHING is still going in his mouth, so is this just exploration?

Please tell me that my kid is normal. Please. I mean, this is all cute and funny, but at the same time I worry about him. He doesn't respond to his name. He doesn't like peek-a-boo. Despite how clingy he is, he doesn't *play* with me. He is content to sit alone and hold balls. I don't push it, but I wonder if all the wheels are turning up there...Thanks for listening! :(

mama2be
03-18-2003, 10:53 AM
Not only is he normal...I suspect he is a genius!!!! :):):)
Auntie Neve knew he was already!!!!

alkagift
03-18-2003, 11:00 AM
I don't know, he sounds like an independent thinker to me--he's figured out that his mouth might work as a way to pick something up, and he gets a musical bonus out of it! I think he's thinking, "there's no way I can let go of these precious balls in my hand, and there's another one--maybe I can get my mouth to hold it so that I've got them all!!" I'm not a mommy yet, but I've seen babies hoard what they like. If I saw him I would assume that he's a clever kid!

Allison
Expecting #1 5/27/03

MartiesMom2B
03-18-2003, 11:04 AM
Oooh I'm laughing. I think Gannon is showing above normal intellegence. Hmmm let me try to brush away the spiderwebs in my head and reach back to my college days on child development (I have a degree in psychology that i don't use). I think that this is a great sign of development and shows how smart he is to come up with the rationale of using his mouth when his hands are full.

This will be one of those stories that you will tell him in front of his girlfriends to embarass him.


Sonia
EDD 4/14/03

P.S. From what I've observed of my nephews its always the toy that the parents hate that the kids love the most!

sweetbasil
03-18-2003, 11:07 AM
Sonia's dead on...and most little boys LOVE balls, trucks, etc. Kellen would *much* prefer to play alone (as would most of his little boy peers), and has from a very young age. Gannon sure is a resourceful little guy! :)

brubeck
03-18-2003, 11:42 AM
Is this the FP Ball Blast? My daughter loved it too and so did all the other kids in playgroups who came to visit.

You will eventually learn to mentally shut out the tinny music. Or go insane. Either way you're home free. :-) With the Ball Blast I made up words to go along with the song and sang it to my daughter when she pushed the ball through. She LOVED it. Obviously I am in the insane category.

I don't think using his mouth is an issue at all. He's probably learned that if he drops something you will pick it up and whisk it away. Hence, he can do this without dropping! I also think it's a sign of creativity. Kids don't know the rulebook, so they don't know how they are 'supposed' to develop. One day he'll realize that his hands are easier (and less drippy) and start using them.

Also, does he have his teeth? If he starts teething and his gums begin hurting I bet he'll stop using his mouth to manipulate the ball. He'll just bite on something a little thinner.

sntm
03-18-2003, 11:48 AM
Gannon cracks me up! You'll get to tell this story to Time magazine when he becomes the next Bill Gates for thinking "outside the box."

shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03

memedee
03-18-2003, 12:21 PM
He sounds very advanced.
Most men learn not to respond to their name at a much later age.
Particularly when a woman is caliing.
They know instinctively that you just want them to do something for them ,like take out the trash.

ddmarsh
03-18-2003, 02:20 PM
Oh my gosh LOL at the comments above!

Actually I too thought "boy that kids is bright!!" when I read it (honestly I did). This is definately one for the baby book :).

Take care -
Debbie

Momof3Labs
03-18-2003, 02:44 PM
I think that you have the next Einstein! He sounds very industrious and creative - would you rather that he sat with two balls in his hands and cried because he couldn't get the third one to play the music? Of course not!

jojo2324
03-18-2003, 03:05 PM
Thanks so much everyone for your kind words!! You guys are the best.

But I still don't think he is doing it to play the music. He is just weird. Case in point...I put some of the balls in the basin of a toy tugboat we have, and he did the same thing. A ball in each hand while he lunged at the rest and started to mouth them. So my guess is he IS trying to pick it up, like a dog. :( He is resourceful, I'll give him that! :D Thanks again everyone!

egoldber
03-18-2003, 03:23 PM
I'm pretty sure the Ball Blast has an off button. And he sounds VERY clever. You're going to have a fun toddlerhood!!! :)

twins r fun
03-18-2003, 03:27 PM
What is it with kids (or boys?) and balls! Jacob and Caleb CONSTANTLY have a ball (or 2, depending on the size)in their hands. Honestly I keep saying I'm just going to pack up their other toys since they never touch them. They treat balls like a blankie these days-they must have one everywhere they go.

As for the mouth thing, I agree, Gannon just sounds very smart! Also my boys definitely didn't respind to their name at 8 months and even now only do it when they want to.

atlbaby
03-18-2003, 04:09 PM
I think Gannon sounds incredibly resourceful, and *obviously* smart--look at his mommy!! He loves balls, and wants to have as many as possible! Arielle's first crawl was to her "bally", which she sleeps with now (it's soft). And I seem to recall she too would hold 2 items and put a third in her mouth.

Now when she has no hands free (since a sippy is undoubtably in one hand!) she places one item on the floor first. But she does it *gently*, she doesn't throw it! I get teary eyed every time she does it. :) I love to watch babies discover, and how they make things work for them in their world!

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01
#2:) EDD 10/24/03

gravymommy3
03-18-2003, 04:18 PM
Try putting a piece of tape over the speaker of the toy. It deadens some of the racket.

I agree with the others - he sounds very clever.

suzska
03-18-2003, 07:29 PM
Oh, Evan doesn't just stop at 2 or 3. I think he's had as many as 5 things in his mouth and hands at one time! When his hands are full and you go to hand him a sippy cup, you can see the wheels spinning as to which is THE most important thing to hold onto. The rest usually go crashing to the floor. Usually thrown behind him. Sometimes he tries to set things down gently.

He's had two stuffed animals in one arm, one in the other, and Elmo hanging out of his mouth--while walking down the stairs with Mom holding onto him. He has a bunch of the Little People stuff, and nowadays he tries to carry no less than 3 people (2 in one hand, 1 in the other) around the house. He has tried to pick up small "playground" balls with his mouth. You know, the ones that are like "kick balls" only about 8" in diameter. And has succeeded on occassion. We also have plastic letter and numbers on the fridge. He often has 2-4 of those in his hands. And lets not Evan talk about Matchbox cars!

I also remember a little girl at Gymboree classes last Spring who would carry 3 plastic balls around with her the whole time, and wouldn't let anybody else near them.

Oh, and as for the "annoying" music, Evan loves anything that plays music. He got the Little People Discovery City for Christmas. If you put the people on the town circle it plays this annoying "We're Little People...." song. Evan LOVES to make the music play. DH has come up with alternative lyrics to it. "Making friends everyday" has been changed to "And we won't go away!" Evan got some new Little People for his birthday (yeah, I have only myself to blame for my house being overrun by Little People), and when he opened the package he started singing "Et tee day." (His way of saying "everyday.") He grabbed the Little People and tried to run up to his room to make them "sing" with the other ones. LOL!

Joanne, Gannon is VERY normal!

jubilee
03-19-2003, 04:09 AM
Very normal! Jacob would do the same type of thing. He would realize he didn't have enough hands for all he was trying to hold and would use his mouth or try stepping on the item. One day I showed him making a little pouch with his shirt, you know- taking the hem of the shirt and pulling it up. He'd then fill his shirt with all his items and walk around like that all day, meanwhile showing off his belly. (very cute) It's the beginning of him showing possession.