Phases

For a few days now, I've been wondering what to write for the next post. After much thought, I'd like to write about various things that Conlan does or used to do; phases that he has gone through.  Here are some that I could think of, not in any particular order.

• shirt sucking (he has ruined a few shirts cause he sucks on them so much)
• fecal smearing
• squeezing Gavin's neck
• having us talk in his ear (This worried us a lot and so we had his hearing checked.  His hearing is fine, but I still wonder why he was having us talk into his ear.)
• spitting his drink out
• screaming, sometimes just to irritate us. :)

Most of these he still occasionally does.  Thankfully, he hasn't engaged in fecal smearing for quite a while.  There are others.  I just can't think of them right now.

I've been trying to think of things he likes to do to use as rewards for doing something well.  So here are some things that he just likes to do.  

• have us kiss his arms
• feel my whiskers
• run
• JUMP (there's a Sesame Street episode where Grover learns how to jump, from the cow that jumped over the moon - it's one of his favorite shows).
• he loves car rides.  Recently, I remembered how when I was frustrated or angry, I would go on a car ride, and that would calm me.  He is so much like me in so many aspects.  He loves looking out the window and watching. For a while, we brought his car seat into the house and used it to calm him when he had a meltdown.
• riding the bus
• play with water.  He especially likes pouring water (or wine as was the case at a work party last week) back and forth.
• He is very oral and likes chewing on chewy stuff. We got a pack of squishy lizards at the zoo for him.  We got chewelry for him, but he didn't like it.

Once we stayed at a hotel and asked for a first-floor room just so that he wouldn't disturb (jumping and screaming) anybody below us.  They didn't have any rooms available on the first floor at the rate we paid, so we asked to be put away from anybody else, and they said they would.  They still put somebody below us.  Lo and behold, the neighbors from below complained, and they had us move to another room.  The new room was bigger and much nicer, so there were no complaints from us.

And some other things we deal with on a daily basis.

• uncontrollable laughing or crying (sometimes he'll wake up in the middle of the night and just laugh and laugh and laugh for no apparent reason - which is better than when he wakes up boo-hooing or screaming).
• he's a very picky eater.  He'll eat just the sausage, and often the cheese too, from a pizza.
• instead of telling us what he wants, he'll grab our hand and lead us to the kitchen if he's hungry or thirsty.  Or he'll push us to the destination.

There is so much I'm sure I have missed.  I'll add to the lists as my mind recollects and/or observes new items.