I suspect I can trace the roots of my family tree directly back to Houdini. I have discovered, across three children and an embarrassing number of public incidents, that my kids possess a remarkable ability to make themselves completely impossible to pick up at the precise moment it most needs to happen. Arms go limp. Joints appear to partially detach from their sockets. The child becomes, essentially, a very emotional bag of wet sand. They do not always do this. Only when th

Has this ever happened to you? You watch your child intensely practicing a new movement. The struggle, the concentration, the determined grunts and muffled noises of effort. Nearly...Nearly...Almost... But not quite. They don't manage to stay in tummy time. They don't roll. They don't push up. They don't take that long-awaited first step. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a voice starts whispering: They should have done this a month ago. My friend's baby rolled at three