Add This to the List Titled "Things I Never Thought I'd Do As a Mom"

I had all sorts of ideas about mothering before Miss Viv entered the world. And I've let go of quite a few, some by choice, others because I just had to. I'm mostly a go with the flow, laid back kind of girl, but having to let go of some of my lofty ideas has been hard. Probably healthy - a reminder that I can't control every little aspect of my life, and to just go with it - but still hard.

Anyhow, after a lovely 4th of July (A Happy 1st Birthday party for Mr. Sweet-E! And, after the party, a spontaneous family drive to Sonic Burger for dinner - it was only 30 minutes in the opposite direction of home - and nothing says Happy Fourth of July like tater tots delivered on roller skates at the drive-in! Woo hoo!), we arrived home. Miss Viv, after being loved on all day at the party, but not having had much roll around and play time, was on fire! Showing off all her moves, and then some! Vince asked me if I had fed her coffee; I said No, my renegade mothering does not involve caffeinating our daughter, thank you very much.

Fourth of July: Mr. Sweet-E turns 1 and we drive all the way to Sonic...mostly because of tater tots and roller skates

So as we listened to fireworks from our living room and Viv kept rolling onto her tummy for 5 seconds, then back to her back, then onto her tummy again, I had (if I do say so myself) a potentially interesting idea. I remembered a DVD, in its plastic wrapper, tucked away in Viv's room. It was a gift somewhere along the way before Viv was born.

And here is where I have to explain that I have a general resistance to all things marketed to make parents think their baby will be smarter and more brilliant and better than all the other babies so she can go to an Ivy League college (for example, products with Einstein in the name). I have a general resistance to movies made for babies, at least for my baby.

But you see, in all our months of Physical Therapy, while Viv's made big strides in rolling and sitting and holding her head more straight and center, her distaste for tummy time has not changed. When I finally timed her, I realized that what felt like minutes of tummy time was only 15 seconds...and then she'd roll over onto her back. 15 seconds has remained her record despite my ridiculous shenanigans to entertain her with silly songs, favorite books and crazy toys, despite tips and ideas from our PT. There are physical reasons why this is harder for Viv than the average kid, but she has to strengthen those muscles. But how do you force a baby to stay on her tummy when she's learned to roll over?

As fireworks popped and exploded last night, I put that Baby Einstein DVD into my laptop and put Viv on her tummy in front of its screen. I laid next to her to see what would happen.

And people, it happened. As baby faces and kaleidoscopes and wooden centipede toys gently flashed across the screen in time to Beethoven symphonies, Vivian remained on her tummy. And remained and remained. For, like, upwards of ten minutes. I am not kidding. I wouldn't have believed it, but Vince was videotaping the whole thing and that's what the time ticker said. Talk about breaking a record.

You will hear me say in the video that Baby Einstein now has a place in our home. Not a big place, but a place nonetheless. By breaking my "rule," Vivian appears to be sufficiently distracted/enchanted so she can build muscles in her body that will help her to sit and crawl and walk.

I think a big part of parenting is trying my best to figure out what's best for my kid - which is likely very different from what's best for that kid or that one over there. Which is why I'm totally okay sharing with the world that I have used a Baby Einstein movie to help my baby endure being on her tummy...something I would have been all judge-y judge-y about a year ago. Another humbling lesson in parenthood.

But isn't she just precious, all captivated and on her tummy? Break out the popcorn.