Time Flies When Your Baby is Growing!

{The Life Cycle of our Baby Boy!}

It seems like just yesterday he was germinating!

Being a parent is so nerve wracking!

All we have been doing is reading book after book so we can know everything about how our baby will develop. One of our favorite books, "Your Inner Plant," has given us a lot of insight into the life cycle of our baby.

First off, there are typically three steps in the life cycle of our radish baby: germination (conception), plant development  and reproduction (the birds and the bees). We will probably wait a little while to talk about the last stage with our baby...

When our seed is first planted, it has a embryo, a food source, and a protective coat on the outside, all to help our baby through germination. At this first stage in their life cycle the embryo starts to absorb enough nutrients and water so that the seed coat can open and a tiny root will start to grow, the radicle. This root will be the main thing that anchors our baby into the ground to allow for more growth.

Soon after this radicle exist the seed, the cotyledons will begin to grow up and we will finally see our baby poking its head out!

Now starts the development and grow of our young child. The cotyledons are the food source for our young baby, and soon between them a terminal bud will begin to grow. The plant will respond to a phototropism and will grow upwards towards the sun that provides it will energy. Once our baby has found a place to receive sunlight, it will begin to photosynthesize and the cotyledons will begin to shrivel and fall off.

As our baby grows up it will eventually go through a reproductive phase in its life. In this stage, our baby will produce a flower which has both  male and female reproductive parts. The pollen from the flower will disperse and land onto the stigma, double fertilization will occur, and a fruit will appear. This fruit contains small seeds that will be dispersed and then hopefully our baby will have its own baby! In this case, we can also see that our baby is a gametophyte because it requires both male sperm and female egg to reproduce and make a seed, compared to a sphorophyte which creates clones.

All these stages can be seen in the diagram that was posted above all the text, and it shows in steps the various stages of our baby's life cycle.