Watching Aidan’s development is absolutely fascinating to me. I had always heard that development happens in spurts but had never really witnessed it firsthand before. Aidan is currently experiencing several developmental leaps right now.
He is starting to pick up phonics. He is only 2 1/2. My husband and his mother could both read a bit at age 3, so perhaps this shouldn’t be that surprising to me. We have a couple of wonderful Leapfrog phonics toys. A Leapfrog Phonics Bus and a Word Whammer. I LOVE these toys! He has started to associate sounds with about half of his letters. It is so cute to hear him say “D says duh” and the like. Over the last couple of days he has learned to spell “MOM” and “DAD” on the Word Whammer.
Yesterday at Little Gym and today at Pump It Up, he was noticeably more engaged with the other kids. It is still normal for kids this age to do mostly parallel play, but I have really noticed him actually engaging other children more just this week. It is so much fun to watch this.
And a couple of posts ago, I spoke about him climbing. Wow! Today at Pump It Up, I turned around inside one of the inflatables, and he was climbing up the “ladder” to the top of the slide completely without me. He had no fear. When I saw him doing it by himself, I had to squelch the part of me that wanted to run up behind him and follow him up like I have always done. He climbed all the way up and came down by himself. He was so proud and started clapping. He went up and down all by himself at least 5 more times and we had a blast!
On the way home, he was asking for french fries. Normally I will stop and get him some fries at McDonalds after our Wednesday outing to Pump It Up. (I know…bad mama. He doesn’t eat fast food much at all and has never had a sip of soda! There…I feel better now. :-)) I got him a cheeseburger (I thought I’d give it a try) and took the meal home. He sat up and had almost all the fries and about 1/3 of the cheeseburger!!! Meats have been a sticking point for Aidan. He has tended not to know what to do with them so he chews and chews and then there is like a meat paste left in his mouth. But he really ate this cheeseburger! He has been doing this with more and more foods lately. Perhaps because he has all his 2 year molars?
I sat there watching him and felt a tidal wave wash over me. I didn’t even recognize what I was feeling at first.
I felt normal.
It was really the first time I can actually really remember feeling normal deep into my core in almost 3 years. Sure I have had moments of normal here and there…but never really a moment where I didn’t find myself thinking something about his preemiehood. For a while this morning I forgot he was a preemie. I just saw my son.
I loved this morning. I love feeling normal. But most of all, I love my amazing son.
Aidan has become fascinated with trying on and trying to walk in our shoes. Particularly Daddy’s size 13 shoes. It is quite a sight.
He and Daphne (the female cat of our sibling pair) are becoming quite close. She has always tolerated so much from Aidan, but she is really starting to seek him out more and more. Here they are cuddling. I can’t believe she likes him laying on her!
Aidan has been climbing EVERYTHING lately. He is climbing up onto barstool height chairs with ease, up onto windowsills, onto our very tall bed, and many others.
And this is what greeted me this morning as I heard him shouting, “Mama come look!”
After seeing Aidan’s interest in climbing growing last week while she was here visiting, my mother in law told me a story about finding my husband up on top of the refrigerator when he was only a couple of months older than Aidan is right now. I love cute little stories about the childhood antics of my husband. Really, I do. Hearing that not so funny little tale made me realize that just when I thought I could let down my guard, that Aidan’s curiosity and skills are about to give me another reason to stay vigilant.
I guess this is the dance of parenting. Your child gains independence doing something, you start to trust him and let down your guard. Then he starts trying new (sometimes dangerous) things and pulls you back in.
Much as I hate to admit it, seeing him try things like this makes me proud. Everything this kiddo has been through doesn’t stop him from exploring and trying new things. He…is…amazing.
I came home from a girlfriend’s baby shower last Sunday to find this:
My own variety of “baby” shower! We have hit the point in his toddlerhood where he does something almost everyday that makes me stop and think of how fast he is growing up. That day it was asking Daddy if he could “take a quick shower like Daddy.” So cute I wanna eat him up!
Does it sound a bit self-congratulatory to say that I think everything we have been through with Aidan’s premature beginning have made me appreciate all of his accomplishments more than I might have? I guess I can never be sure since I have no comparison. But there is a wonderful flood of pride that fills me whenever I see Aidan learning a new skill. I am humbled when I think of the odds that were stacked against him on the day he was born and where he is today.
And a great video I captured! Sorry for the proud mom screaming in the background and the shaky footage near the end! I thought I had hit stop! This video of Aidan playing with his cats was too priceless not to post! Enjoy!
It is so cliche but so true. This child is growing up so fast. I remember hearing stories from my parents that it seemed like everytime they blinked we had grown again. I am finding out this is more true than not. We had a gorgeous (out of the ordinary) spring day here Saturday where it reached 80 degrees in some spots! I decided to take Aidan down to some kiddie play fountains at a local outdoor shopping center to have the first splashy fun of the season.
As I watched him join right in with the other children, I thought about our other trips to that fountain. The first summer when he was just learning to sit well and the second when he had only been walking a few months and was very unsure of his footing.
Saturday I watched him run to the fountains with reckless abandon and begin splashing himself and playing splashing games with other kids there. When I came home I dug out the photos from his first summer (2006) and last summer (2007)to compare.
Summer 2006
Summer 2007
This Saturday (April 2008)
And yes, his resistance to leaving the fountains has grown in proportion to the rest of his growth! It was not pretty when it was time to go. I love watching him have so much fun outside. I just wish we had more days like this one.
I got the link to this article today through another preemie parent. It is a short one page article…very worth the read.
For my friends with preemies: You will instantly find a familiarity in this story. I think you will read it and say, “She gets it.”
For my friends without preemies: If you know me well at all, you will know that I am a perfectionist and a worrier. This preemie journey has done nothing to help these qualities in me. :-) But maybe reading it will give you an “aha” moment about watching me over the last couple of years.
We had a couple of beautiful spring days in Seattle last week. Wednesday and Thursday were sunny with temperatures in the high 50’s. These are the days that we Seattleites wait for earnestly for months.
I got an email on Wednesday evening from Kim, mom to Nathan and Preston, saying she was going to take the boys to the zoo the next day and wanting to know if we would join them. Nathan and Preston were across the hall from Aidan while we were in the NICU. Nathan and Preston are fraternal twins born at 30 weeks weighing in around 2lb 12 oz and 2lb 14 oz. They are about a month or so older than Aidan and are great kids.
We went to Woodland Park Zoo…just an amazing zoo! We had not been since Aidan was a little less than a year old. What an experience!!! We spent 3 hours there and all the boys had a blast! It was so amazing to see these 3 former preemies running around together, laughing, chatting…just being boys!
It was great to see the independent streak of all the boys showing itself as we walked from one animal to the next. We would put them in the strollers but not buckle them up because it wasn’t worth the hassle to unbuckle them 60 seconds later. Pretty soon the boys all figured out they weren’t buckled in and as soon as they saw the next animal exhibit coming would all bolt out of the strollers and start running toward the glass or bars.
The boys watching the hippos:
Playing on the monkey and elephant statues:
The 3 boys from behind watching the lion put on a roaring display (from left…Aidan,Nathan, Preston). It was quite something. This male lion roared for almost a minute. It was so cute to see all 3 boys so fascinated by the lion and all saying “Lion. ROAR!!!”
And finally, a picture I think I should really email to the NICU they all were in. I think they would love to see the 3 boys together having so much fun!
I have never felt this invested in a complete stranger before. Tricia is going into surgery to get her new lungs. I wrote about Nate and Tricia a couple of months ago here. Tricia has CF and was about to be put on the transplant list last fall. Then she found out that the baby she and Nate had been trying for was growing in her womb. They made the decision to continue the pregnancy. Tricia made it through a very difficult pregnancy with Gwyneth. One that was treacherous for both her health and the health of her darling daughter. Tricia made it to 25 weeks gestation with Gwyneth and bought her the chance at life. Now Tricia waits for her new lungs.
Their beautiful daughter Gwyneth touched me as all premature babies do. But this story Nate and Tricia are playing out before a faceless audience of well-wishers has me more captivated than I have ever been in people I have not met, do not know, probably never will meet.
Please take a moment to go to Nathan’s blog and leave a message of support.
If you haven’t been there yet, read their story. It will amaze you.
I can’t wait to hear the news that Tricia is breathing with a new set of lungs. I am on pins and needles.
