Play Time

Lesson Learned #8: Slow down and enjoy playtime.

It has become more and more apparent with each day (literally) that Adam is a little kid instead of a baby. He can feed himself most foods if they aren't too hard or in large chunks, find his sippy cup when he's thirsty, and has creative ideas constantly. He knows what he likes and what he doesn't like. He'll try pretty much everything, especially if it requires athleticism and balance. He'll taste pretty much whatever you put on his plate, and if he doesn't like it, he'll simply make a face, pull it out of his mouth, and hand it back to me. (Our recent try at cottage cheese was politely declined in this way -- and I ended up with a handful of cottage cheese).

You can see the wheels spinning during playtime constantly -- not in the way that he's trying to figure out how something works -- but in a deliberate attempt to determine how else he can use it. His imagination astounds me. (As in, I know this ball is supposed to go in the hole... but where else can the ball go? What if I turned this toy upside down and sat on it? What can I use to climb? What if I use my sippy cup as a spoon?) When he is successful, the joy on his face is immediate and overwhelming.

He is practicing his sad and happy faces. I kind of regret teaching him what "sad face" is, because previously we basically had two faces - "HAPPY FACE" and "tantrum face". Now we get complaining face, sad face, yelling face, and of course, excited face and happy face and goofy face too... although it is pretty cute to watch him manipulate his face and try to do new things.

In front of the bull at Watter's Creek in Allen - Shannon and Adam had a boys night out last night.

Watter's Creek

Whenever the television makes a ringing noise, or I get a text message, or the house telephone actually rings, Adam looks at one of us, puts his hand on his chin (almost like it's the phone, just way lower), and says what usually sounds like "who's dare?!" I have absolutely no idea where this came from but he does it almost every time. Then he walks around for a few minutes with his hand on his chin like he answered the phone. He also has an old iPhone that is "his phone" -- but typically all he does with it when he finds it randomly throughout the house is pick it up and bring it to Shannon and I for us to talk on it. When we pretend talk and hand it back to him so he can talk, he just smiles and hands it back. Then he walks off. And since Shannon and I typically do not spend very much time talking on the phone, we are baffled.

Adam loves to hand us things. He finds toys, books, cups, papers, even trash, and decides who would like it the most (typically it's the person closest to it), and hands it to them and smiles. On Friday it was my dad's birthday Adam and I went over to celebrate with him. While Adam, Robin, my dad and I were all sitting outside on the porch, Adam discovered one of my mom's sandals and decided it was my dad's. Adam would hand it to him, walk off, and when he found it on the ground next to my dad again, he'd pick it back up and hand it to him. He did this repeatedly. He also decided that a couple of dead leaves were "mom's" - Thanks Adam.

One day when I was crying he came up and gave me the longest hug to comfort me -- and he is not one for long periods of cuddle time, unless he's just sitting in your lap. He's gotten really good at raspberries too...

Adam is starting to respond better to questions and requests. If I say "stomp stomp stomp," Adam stands in place and stomps his feet and grins. Sometimes he adds a few spins to it just to mix it up. But it's especially funny when he stomps and then takes off running - Robin says he's like a little Sonic the Hedgehog.

He waves "bye bye" sometimes without prompting, just because he's ready to go "bye bye." He stopped to glance at the TV and saw the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, where Harry is on the train waving good bye to Hagrid, and Adam waved back to him.Today I asked him where his drink was, and he immediately pointed to the other room, then left. Two minutes later he came back with his drink in hand. He does this adorable little "hi" with his chin tucked down a little while wearing a gigantic grin when he's flirting, being charming, or especially wants something.

Everything is exciting for Adam. Life is exciting, lunch is exciting, being in the car or in a new room is exciting . . . even grocery shopping is fun with Adam because he dances in the shopping cart to the music they play over the loud speakers ("Hot, Hot, Hot!" was the hit yesterday), he helps me put everything in the cart (probably a ploy to allow him to inspect and touch everything he can), and at the check out his smiling face earns him a "Thank you" sticker every time.

I fear if I go to sleep one more night or even just blink, the next time thing we know he'll be going to kindergarten.