Is left not right?

Don't be confused by my title. No, Xavier hasn't chosen a political party yet, though Papa Z has already started working on it.

Instead, this post is about Xavier's developmental milestones. My baby books have been collecting dust somewhere, and I've all but given up reading my weekly BabyCenter updates. But today I looked at Parents.com's "Growth & Development Milestones: 8-12 Months" list to see if X is keeping up with where he's supposed to be. He seems to be just starting to catch up to other kids his age on "pulling to standing," and he definitely hasn't started "pointing" yet, so I made a mental note to work on that one. However, he talks (yells) a lot (constantly), and his precision when feeding himself is spot on.

But that's where my question comes in: he definitely appears to be left-handed, especially when feeding himself.

Which is awesome! Left-handedness is so cool, and I've always wished I was, so I would be excited if X took after his daddy and grew up as a south paw (Which still doesn't make sense to me? What is that phrase supposed to mean anyway? South is down, not left).

But this list of milestones clearly states that he shouldn't be showing any hand preference yet. And that worries me.

Now, it's not that he doesn't use his right hand at all, because he does. And his ability to pick up a small piece of food and get it right in his mouth with either hand is impressive. I think I might miss my mouth more than he misses his. But he definitely seems to use his left hand more than his right, and I want to make sure that doesn't mean that the left side of his brain (because that controls his right hand, right?) is lagging or not functioning properly.

Also, of course I'm not going to take Parents.com's word for it, and I'm going to ask our pediatrician before I start assuming he has some kind of brain misfiring.

So, no, I'm not a crazy new-mommy. And I don't run to the doctor every time he cries or bumps his head (although our pediatrician's office has seen us more than some of our close friends since Xavier was born, but his ear infections and not my paranoia are the reason for our weekly visits).

But I still worry. He's my baby.