It seems that almost every week now, our son displays or learns something new that amazes me. Not only is he getting taller, about 32" at almost 16 months old, but he is also learning more and more about the world around him every day. Despite my previous reservations about daycare, my opinion has come around and changed for the positive. I attribute part of his increased perceptions of the world around him and his ability to interact with it more meaningfully to daycare and their activities. Perhaps the most important part of daycare that he would otherwise be lacking in is the socialization aspect. Even if my wife or I could watch him every day, or his grandmother, he would not receive the amount of interact with kids his age that he does in daycare. Perhaps above all else, the socialization aspect is the most important. Not that we thought he would have a problem getting right into the mix with the other kids in the classroom, but to have the interaction on a daily basis is important. While he has always been a little social butterfly, he has now become fully immersed in his little group of toddlers. One day a few weeks ago, it almost looked like he had a girlfriend. My wife and I were told that for most of one day, he kept on going up to one of the girls in his room, grabbing her hand, and trying to lead her around. It had to have been the cutest thing to witness. I don't know if it happened again or if it was just a one time deal, but to have him try to involve someone his age in his little world is pretty cool. We don't think much about it as adults, but for a child who under the age of 2 to go beyond his own needs and seek to engage another child seems pretty amazing. Perhaps it occurs all the time amongst kids that age and I am just a naive father who thinks his son is doing really well, but it seems as if it is a little bit of an anomaly. I don't know. I do know that as he is in a room with mostly girls, it makes for some interesting scenarios sometimes. Around the time that he picked out his girlfriend for the day, there was a time when my wife went to pick him up and arrived just as he was finishing his afternoon snack. There was a girl on either side in a high chair eating a snack as well as two girls just standing by his high chair watching him eat. It had to have been the cutest sight to see this little boy surrounded by girls. Nothing special there, just a cute sight to be seen.
Perhaps the latest great achievement, or at least advancement in our son, is his ability to notify us when he has done his duty in his diaper. This past weekend he really kicked it into high gear. Every time he urinated in his diaper, he would go right over to his changing table, grab a hold of it and look for either my wife or I. Upon asking if he needed his diaper changed, a huge smile would break out on his face and he would utter a little laugh. Sure enough, he was correct. The times he notified us, he had just taken care of business and while it wasn't necessarily a lot of pee, it was fresh and we took it as a great first step towards potty training. Now we just have to figure out that part. I don't think either my wife or I were expecting him to figure it out this early and while potty training won't happen over night, we are hoping that he will be pretty much all set by the end of summer. We attribute most of this new advance to his cloth diapers which, unlike the disposable kind, don't whisk away the moisture from the skin which allows him to feel the wetness. Its interesting how quickly little kids learn provided they are given the opportunity to do so. While not necessarily an enormous advancement, he has now gotten to the point where we don't need to carry him everywhere. He actually enjoys walking now, not all the time, but a majority of it. Taking him to the car now consists mostly of just holding his hand and walking at his pace. That perhaps is the biggest obstacle, especially for someone with long legs like myself. I am used to taking long strides and getting places quickly, however, when walking with a toddler whose legs are a quarter of the size yours are, everything takes longer. Yet, there is a part of me that enjoys walking slower, especially with our son. Instead of rushing by everything, even in our own driveway, I am forced to take my time, observe more of what is going on around me as a little hand grips my finger. Its a nice change of pace, literally and figuratively, to walk slower. All this means that we get a little break from carrying him everywhere. There are still plenty of times when he would rather be carried, or after walking halfway towards a destination, he will turn, extend both arms and wait till one of us picks him up. I still don't mind carrying him, he is just getting heavier and holding him for extended periods of time is draining.
In addition to all that I mentioned above, I am consistently amazed by his manual dexterity, his ability to control his fingers in a calculated manner to achieve a certain objective. I know, sounds all scientific and what not, but to watch him is akin to watching a little scientist at work. When he approaches something that necessitates calculated movements, such as pulling apart a folded napkin, a tissue, paper, or wipe, everything about him slows down as he focuses on the object in his hands and he moves his fingers precisely to where they need to be in order to pull apart a given object. Its amazing to watch his focus on given objects, still not very long lasting as he is just a toddler, but he has moments where he will focus on things for a few minutes as he plays with them, explores their possibilities, and then moves on to something else. All this talk of calculated movements somehow reminded me of another activity he loves to do, that is run across our couches. In our living room, we have two couches that are perpendicular to each other and which can be temporarily connected by pushing our ottoman on wheels into the corner they create. Well, our son loves to go from one end of one couch, down its length, across the ottoman, and across the other couch to its end. Once he gets there, he turns around and goes back. He repeats this over and over again until something else catches his attention. Its amazing to watch him figure out his balance, attempt to run across the couches without falling, one of his little hands always extended and at the ready to catch himself should he start to fall. The look on his face is also priceless; mouth wide open, a half smile curling up the corners of his mouth, and eyes intent on making it to the other side without falling. I must say, his balance is getting really good with all this couch running. Even better is that the surface texture and give changes from the couch to the ottoman and then back to the couch again forcing him to account for the different surface he is running on. He still falls on occasion, but he is getting more and more comfortable with his balance. I could keep on going about our son, but for now, I will leave it at that. He never ceases to amaze me with what he is learning and how he is advancing. I think he is also following in my footsteps in terms of speaking as well given that I didn't really start talking till about the age of 2.
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