Tummy Time

To anyone else, these are just pictures of Reece laying on the bed watching tv.  For me, though, it required a double take.  When Reece was born, he was unable to move his head from side to side or back to front because of the stiffness.  Now, if you have had a child in the last 10 years, you know that you never allow your newborn to sleep on his stomach because of the risk of SIDS.  The importance of tummy time while awake is stressed over and over.  Well, to stretch Reece's neck, we HAD to lie him on his stomach on a prone pillow when he napped.  When your child can't move his neck from side to side, his face has nowhere to go but flat into the mattress.  I remember sitting beside his cradle in our bedroom watching his every breath and repositioning him if I needed to- 1 hour with his neck stretched to the left, 1 hour with it stretched to the right.  Those were long 2 hour naps.  Then, while he was awake, we went through every tool imaginable to make tummy time enjoyable to him.  We tried the Boppy pillow, rolled up towels, rolling up the comforter on the bed, and two different tummy time mats.  He hated every second of it.  And, why wouldn't he?  Imagine trying to hold up your neck with no range of motion and lift yourself up with weak arm muscles and arms that didn't straighten completely.  It was a lost cause, and he learned how to booty scoot as opposed to crawling on all fours.  Tummy time just wasn't his thing.
Now, I look into my bedroom and see this image.  And, then I had to look again.  Was he really laying on the end of the bed with his hand on his chin while ON HIS TUMMY??  Yes, I've seen him on his tummy before now, but he looked so old just lying there on the bed like that.  Maybe I flashbacked to rolling up the comforter on our bed and playing Baby Einstein on tv to get him to look up.  I don't know.  What I do know is that it brought tears to my eyes.  Now, maybe you understand why these aren't just pictures of Reece laying on the bed watching tv.  Take time to stop and enjoy the things you may take for granted.

With love,
Beth