I'm Just Terrible

Yesterday, Nathan and I participated in a mommy and baby play study at a local medical school. It would have and should have been fun. But Nathan, well, he hadn't had a nap yet and he was hungry and I guess he's not so into the heart and respiration monitoring.

We were both suited up in vests that monitored our vitals. Nathan got to play in a high chair with various toys. Including puppets. Which he hated, in a five-alarm scream sort of way. Note to self: Don't buy puppets.

The first part of the study should have taken 45 minutes. It took two hours because of the screaming. I am a terrible mother and finally picked up on his hunger cues. I fed him and he was much better. The worst part of this portion of the study was his interacting alone with the researcher. He just cried. I measured my anxiety level and "Holy Lord!!"

The second part of the study was to test his verbal ability. Nathan is a babbler and says a lot of syllables. He's only seven plus months old, so he doesn't really say words, obviously. (Dadadadadadadada doesn't count, I'm sure.) But, it didn't occur to me that he might not know any words. He knows his name, Mama, Dada, and he likely knows CAT! but I'm not sure. The researcher lined up five objects, with a nice silver spoon right in the middle. Now, Nathan is a baby, so he loves shiny things. But also, he's a serious eater. When the research asked Nathan where the ball, duck, block, and rattle were, he grabbed the spoon and shoved it into his mouth. He got it right when she asked where the spoon was. I don't think he did too well on that portion.

The last part was looking at physical abilities: Nathan has no interest in learning words, but he's dedicated to becoming a walker. He has no interest in sitting, and crawls to get to a standing position. But geez lady, just let him stand. I guess that made up for the lack of knowing what a ball was.

I felt so bad about all of the crying, but because I'm a dorky grad student, I feel compelled to help out researchers. I guess next time I'll leave the little guy at home.