Playing with Others

I don't know if all children do this, but we have noticed that Patrick has distinct and varying favorite activities that he does with each individual he knows. He remembers which activity goes with which person and we are rarely allowed to change them up (sometimes, we are not allowed to change them up at all).

With his grandmother, he want's to eat, drink, and/or play with anything that's hers. She had to use a cane for a while and to this day, it is one of the most amazing toys for him. The walker became his "Cadillac" ... to ride in around the house. He loves the snacks and drinks, especially when it's from the containers she is using.

With his grandfather, he loves to sit back and watch financial news reports or sports. We can generally count on Papap putting him to sleep at least one night a week this way.

With his mother, he'll sit patiently as she reads him a book ... not with anyone else. He also loves to hear her sing "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and barely listens whens someone else sings it.

With me, he loves to sit at my computer and type on the keyboard and use the mouse ... so glad that I got a heavy-duty gamer mouse and keyboard!

With one of his cousins, he'll race around the house (still using a walker at this point) while being chased. With anyone else, he is the one doing the chasing.

These activities are specific to each individual. He'll tolerate someone else trying the same activity, but you can tell from his responses that he is definitely not as interested ...

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Terror or Anger

Jennifer and I woke about twenty minutes ago to Patrick crying ... nothing unusual. I asked her to get him since I have to start getting ready for work in about three hours (yes, I have to work on a Saturday). Where things became unusual was the loud, sustained crash, and Patrick's cries rising to a hefty scream. Being the concerned parent that I am ... with visions of his changing table collapsed on top of him, I rushed to their aid. "What was that?" I cried. Jennifer, weakly replied, "I fell down the stairs." With Patrick screaming at the top of his lungs, I think I actually asked her to repeat what she said. I found my wife sitting, with her legs out and my son in her arms, at the bottom of the stairs. Asking if she and Patrick were OK was mixed into confused questioning about what happened. Somehow, her feet went out from under her (we suspect a couple of the leaves that Patrick likes to play with were on the steps). While my real concern was i...

Getting Involved

This is the second night in a row that we were able to spend time and Grandma and Papap's ... Patrick enjoys it so much! We even had a rousing rendition of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" with all five of us involved ... yes, Patrick is pitching in now. He runs from person to person, giving a bit to each one of us ... there is never a dull moment. Tonight, he repeated a new activity from last night. Last night, it was getting everyone involved in chasing him around the house ... tonight, we had this activity, but what we saw was that he wanted to play different games and wanted certain people involved. This is when he went to each person that needed to be involved and grabbed a finger, pulling them along. He even checked every now and then to make sure they were still following. Such an amazing child ... knows how to ensure that we sleep well.

The Evolution of Walking

It started with an attempt to crawl that looked more like something the military spent weeks getting me to perfect (the "low crawl") ... Patrick got that down in a few minutes. After all the photos, videos, and calls to our grandparents, we marveled at how amazing our son was. Then, the crawl became something that involved all four limbs; quite a bump up from just his arms. It wasn't long before he was moving quick enough to get his fingers into the door as I was closing it. The primal scream of pain was unreal ... yet, all too real. The little man's finger was dented ... I still feel a bit guilty today and it has been months since the incident. Then, just as Patrick was getting the crawling down, he managed to pull himself into a standing position without any help. About that time, he took a nose dive off the bed into a popcorn bowl ... it was hard not to laugh as he cried in pain. He loved playing with a fire engine that he can sit on and in...

Fatherhood

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