He doesn’t listen

He doesn’t listen.  Every day I ask him, beg him, slow down!  Mommy isn’t ready for you to be a big boy.  Mommy isn’t ready to give up on the “baby” that my son used to be.

To be fair, he never misled me.  He made it pretty clear from the first day that he would do things on his time which often means earlier than I am ready.  It’s not his fault and most parents would be thrilled to have a child that runs forward and never looks back.  Not that I am complaining…as an adoptive parent I was prepared for the delays (not that I am saying he won’t have some that won’t present when he begins reading and attending school), not for the child that insists on being ahead of everyone else.

Before Duc I didn’t know about children or the milestones.  Every time he would do something I was thrilled because I knew he was reaching milestones.  It wasn’t until other parents began telling me that their child was xx months old before doing something.  While I waited to travel to Duc I received a LOT of photos and I am so grateful to the mamas that traveled to their children or visited his orphanage that would send me photos and videos.  It sustained me during the wait.  I carried those photos with me every where and I slept, and continue to sleep, one of those first photos next to my bed.  Shortly after referral I visited a local jewelry store, an old mom ‘n pop place that I love.  Something about it feels so homey and comforting—don’t ask why because I really don’t know.  I had ordered a man’s ID bracelet with his name engraved.  Of course, I had to spell it out and since his entire name is Vietnamese they asked me about it and I was all to proud to produce the picture.  The woman waiting on me asked his age—he was 3-3/1/2 months at the time and was already pushing himself up.  She told me her son just started to push him and he was nearly twice Duc’s age.  At first I thought it was a fluke, but I’ve seen a pattern.

Because he started walking early the daycare placed him in the toddler room several months early—he was only 10 months old.  At that point they took the bottles away and started him on a sippy cup.  We put our baby bottles away around the time he was 13 months.  It was sad.  I didn’t dwell on it long, I just packed them away and hoped that I would someday use them again.

And now, well, now he is a big boy.  He stopped using toddler ware and is now using silverware just like mommy.  He unscrews the top of his sippy cup and drinks it like I drink mine.  He doesn’t like sitting in his booster/baby seat for meals, he insists on sitting in an adult chair and sometimes I let him.  And yesterday as I worked on 1-2-3’s with him I noticed that every time I would say 3 he would say 4.  When I said 2 he said 3.  He is beginning to see the relationship between items and it is so interesting to watch his little mind make these connections.

Today I picked him up from daycare early.  We are in the midst of a winter storm and the roads were beginning to slicken so I decided to pick him up early.  It was still nap time when I snuck into the room.  I tiptoed over to the cot where he was sleeping and just sat that there watching him.  We’ve always been able to sense when the other is near which is why it is nearly impossible to sneak into his room at night and watch him.  He slept for another 60 seconds before opening his eyes and smiling at me.  He reached out to grab my hand and we stayed like that while he finished waking up.  It was probably the best part of my day.

Thank for your feedback on my last post.  I really appreciate your support and advice.  Things at work will hopefully settle down soon and Duc, well, what can I say?  When he is sick it doesn’t just impact him.  He was up all week and several days ago I began feeling sick.  As I sit on the couch I have a fever and feel awful.  I would really, really like it if we could make it through ONE month without one or both of us trekking to the doctor’s office.  It’s expensive and tiring.  Say a prayer that we both improve quickly.