The Click Theory….
“Regardless of one’s encouragement, practice, and modeling of a new skill in which you desire for your infant to obtain or even subject to their own desire, initiative, and rehearsal of the technique, often there exists an overnight phenomenon, in which the skill suddenly becomes mastered in a highly accelerated fashion. This profound progression is defined as the Click Theory.” –copyright Murray 2008
Impressive? Exhibit A: Isaac. The boy could care less about crawling a few weeks a go. My chunk-o-love was perfectly content watching the other rascals move about and playing with the toys within his reach. This progressed into rocking on all fours in his crib about a month ago and using his rolling skills to reach things beyond his reach, but no scooting, army crawl, etc. So then last weekend he suddenly gets tired of sitting the bench and decides it’s time to move, but poor guy just couldn’t get anywhere but frustrated. Keep in mind it does take some serious effort to move 25+ lbs (all muscle, of course). It broke my heart to see him put so much energy in to going no where, but there wasn’t really anything I could do….
Fast forward a couple days…. I open the gate to let the monkeys out to put them in bed for their nap. Out comes Henry, Brooks, and Clark in usual fashion and I tuck them one by one in their cribs. I go back to pick up Isaac and just kinda squat in front of him and he takes 5 paces towards me! WHAT???!!!! Unbelievable! I started crying – I was so proud of him.
In less than a weeks time he’s become a master crawler, like he’s been doing it for months! There’s a whole new world for him to explore and he’s loving it! When he discovers something for the first time (like the door stop) he squeals, kicks his legs, and gives me this proud smile. This morning he was pulling up on his knees to the exersaucer, so I believe even more “clicks” (and trouble) are in his near future.
Here’s some footage for you to enjoy:
Completely agree! I’ve totally seen this with twins. One twin practices and practices and practices, you can see their little brain working, and they are just thinking about that skill, that one thing they want to do, ALL.THE.TIME. While their sibling just goes on with daily life. “Yeah, I’ll eat.” “Yep, these toys are great.” But secretly they’re watching. They have to be because BOOM! The first baby is wobbly trying out their new skill when sibling just does it. “Click” like you said.
Great documentation of this crazy “overnight phenomenon”!
How precious!!! Just think- almost to the one year mark…what a joy to know how well they are all doing and how well you and Brad have adjusted to the routine of things! Can’t wait to see clips of the next stage…walking. 🙂 Darla
How precious…..and he looks so proud of himself and looking at you like, “yeah, aren’t you proud of me!” Times like this are just to be treasured! Your friend in East Texas…Pam.
That is so sweet. I love how he looks back at you when he reaches the lotion. Too cute.
They are so precious!! 🙂
New to your site, but love it. I have a 7 month old son that is 20.5 lbs. (neither my husband nor I are large…so not sure where the large gene came from). Anyway, he has 2 cousins that are within 3 months of his age. They’re both rolling, crawling, pulling up, etc. My little (big) guy…nothing. He could care less. Here’s to hoping the click theory will kick in for him within the next 6 months.
yes, most multiples will learn new skills from each other. You will always see one catch onto one thing before the other..and so on.. that is the nature of development amongst multiples! regarding your diaper post, i just dont understand why you would intentionally “plan” to have multilples and not be able to afford to diaper them without depending on ppl to donate to you. There are so many other expenses ahead that you probably have not even thought of yet. Keep in mind that not everyone can afford to donate to take care of your kids when they have their own to care for responsibly. The fact is..kids ARE expensive!
…interesting comment.
jen, LOVED the video of sweet little sir isaac crawling!!! yay! and what a sweet face looking back at his momma! you guys are awesome and continue to amaze me with your gentle CHRISTIAN spirit and positive attitude about ANY and EVERY thing that is thrown your way! I admire you in every way! 😉 LOVE YOU!!
tripletmama….
(This is Brad)
It seems as though you might have misunderstood the intent of diapers post.
I won’t even touch the “plan” to have quads thing, not sure what you meant there.
But, I wanted to let you know that we have never asked a soul for diapers, gifts, gift cards, money, or anything else. Every single gift was given to us unsolicited. That is why we mentioned it to start with, God has been so good to us in the past year, that we felt compelled to share that blessing.
To make it abundantly clear to everyone, we are not asking you to give us anything, we have been blessed beyond measure already!
I rest my case. 🙂
First off, Yeah Isaac! That is just how our two did it. Sarah took a loong time to figure out crawling and then within 2 weeks time, Jacob was up and racing her. now that she’s walking…I am counting the days until J is running, too!
As for the above comment…not sure how anyone could even judge you and be so off. All I read and see is amazing things you do for others and your boys. Keep your Spirit alive!
hi there. thanks for leaving a message! i’ve heard of your family through the Manley’s. i would like to actually get in contact to learn more about your experience with the pregnancy and now raising your four adorable children. take care and appreciate your thoughts and prayers.
How lovely, and I’m glad to see the boys are feeling better after their injections. Best wishes to you all. Lynne, UK
Too funny on the click theory! What a happy day for Issac and of course, proud parents!
Brad and Jen~ dont let peoples comments bug you like the previous one. I never looked at it that way at all. Indeed, you were given those quad babies to futher God’s kingdom. Seriously! I check your post daily….because Im continually amazed how you function and love your boys and do all you can for them. Its a beautiful family you have,especially when you keep God in the center of your family and trust him to see you through each day. Keep it up! Hey, Brad… you did a fantastic job explaining to tripletmama. So gentle and true!! May you both be blessed in 2008 as you were in 2007!
Hey, one question…..Im curious if you get any help nowadays? It seems like we dont get any updates on your helpers or maybe you havent needed them for since…..
could you post on that? Thanks!!
Hope you have a great day!!
Anonymous….
(As you can see from that previous response, I don’t bite, tell me who you are! 🙂 )
Anyway, to answer your question, we currently do not have scheduled help like we did in the beginning. Jen’s mom and sister-in-law come over once weekly to lend a hand, but we no longer have a need for daily help.
Praise God, this was a huge step for us a few months ago and has been our goal all along. We wanted to take care of these kids on our own like every other family does, it just took us a few months to get there.
We do, however, use help to allow us to get out of the house on date nights. There have been a few people stick with us from the beginning and a few new ones that allow us to get out of the house once in a while for some quality huband/wife time.
Thank you for your concern, let us know if you want to join the babysitting team! 🙂 These boys are a blast to hang out with if you have a couple people to do it.
Jen does it by herself, but she is one of the few who can handle that!
Brad
How many times have I seen a baby crawling? I would say, probably thousands of times….but something about it is just so precious! Each time I see one doing it for the first time, it almost brings tears to my eyes! The video was just adorable. And you know he is so proud of himself, too! 🙂
By the way, your theory?
TOTALLY accurate! 🙂
Devin in Illinois
p.s. I read all of the comments from everyone else AFTER I posted mine, but I just wanted to say: Brad, excellent and kind handling of a completely unnecessary and off-base comment by some you would think would understand and empathize with your situation. You have, ever since I have been reading anyway, been abundantly clear that you are not looking for handouts.
“A soft answer…..”
Devin in Illinois
Beautiful boys you have there! Regarding that comment above, I agree that you handled it very well in your response! But, even if you did go through invitro and implanted several embryos at once( my understanding of their comment regarding your intentional “plan” to have more kids than you can supposedly afford) That is YOUR decision and not anyone else’s business! Some people are meant to raise big families and some aren’t. Not all of us can truly “afford” our blessings but we do what we can. I am sure there are tons of programs out there that will assist you with food, and formula for the babies if you look into it. You can also apply for medicaid(free medical) for the kiddos too. Look into getting WIC too, (free formula and baby food!) A very good program! Anyways, I only have one kid , and I give you major props for being able to handle 4 all at once at the same age too! I already know that I would not be able to handle that, so I am glad I only had one child in this pregnancy..hehehe. Anyway, sorry for the long response. Blessing to your family and those handsome boys!:-)