As He Grows Up

Saturday, 26 April 2008

As he grows up, Chase is not only getting longer (His legs almost reach my knees when I carry him on my shoulder!), but smarter and developing more of his personality (I think he's got his mother's stubborn temper for sure.) When he gets angry (if I take away a toy or if I don't pick him up when he wants to be, he puts his head down, clenches his fists, tightens and extends his legs, grits his teeth and growls "Errrrrr".) Although he was playing in a good mood from 6 - 6:30 am, after I left for 7 am yoga this morning, Chase screamed and cried for me the entire two hours I was gone, up until I held him in my arms. He's persistent I tell ya.

His hair is getting thicker, finally growing over the thin bald spot on the back of his head. We're trying to imagine what his hairstyle is going to look like when he gets older. When I look at my kindergartners I work with, I think, "Is Chase going to look like him?" and "I hope he doesn't act like him!". I can joke about that now, but it is fun to see him grow.

He is sleeping better now, whether that is from his new crib mattress (and finally a real crib as opposed to the Pack-n-Play. Perhaps we should have gotten him a real crib sooner, but how were we supposed to know? We're new to all of this.) or him just getting older.

Last night, I went out to dinner with some of the ALS support group caregivers. We enjoyed a nice dinner at PF Chang's. Chris had his friend Vince over to the house for dinner and a movie. Surprisingly, Chase ate a lot (well that's not surprising actually), took a bath in the tub no problem, AND went to sleep in the crib without a problem (Chris said he as asleep in two minutes...and obviously I didn't need to nurse him before he went down!).

So, perhaps I'm not as sleep-deprived because as he gets older, Chase is sleeping better at night. I'm actually still tired though (and that's probably why I've been perpetually sick all of April and am battling my 4th cold already, with a hoarse voice and sore throat). Perhaps that's because Chase has so much more energy now. For months, he slept on his back. We now realize, he probably just didn't have the strength to turn himself over so he laid down whichever way he put him. Now, once we put him down, he hops back up, stands up and holds onto the crib. In fact, he would probably climb the crib if he could. He flips himself over and sits up on the changing table, so I have to really watch him and restrain him when I'm changing his diapers these days. He pulls himself up on furniture and crawls around the house, chasing me whereever I go. After I nurse him (and even sometimes while he's nursing), he climbs me and tries to get higher and higher, as if I'm a jungle gym to play on.

As he grows up, he gets more fun and is easier to throw around. He loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders and even lets go of the death grip on Daddy's hair to cheer in excitement. We can take him out with us just about anywhere because he is eating more of our table food and he can sit up in a highchair and loves to people watch. He plays so hard each afternoon that he hardly naps anymore, so by 6:30 pm, he's just exhausted and ready for dinner, bath, and bed. As he grows up, we know we're going to have our hands full. When those ultrasound technicians and doctors said I had an active one in there, they weren't kidding.