Updates

We have a bookshelf next to Elliot’s crib, whose top is level with the top of his crib.   He wakes up early in the morning and grabs books off the shelf.  Usually in anger, he throws them down into the crib.  Later when he calms down he sits and reads to himself for a while.  

All of this happens at 4:30 or 5am, while we are ignoring his cries.  So how do I know that he reads these books and doesn’t just fling them around the crib?

Because sometimes I pluck a new book off the shelf to read to him.  I think I’m introducing him to something new.  But as we read I realize that he’s already read it.  He  knows what’s coming.  He’s anticipating stuff in a book that neither Hannah nor I have read him before. 

Now, I’ve done my best to prevent this dangerous independent reading practice.  A few weeks ago I taped aluminum foil over the window panes in his room.  (I got the idea from a common practice residents used to use in order to sleep during the day during night float rotations.  It works great: I would go to sleep in a pitch-dark room at 8am and woke up at 4pm fully rested.)

What else?  He’s getting quite rough and tumble.  It’s impossible to lie down in the grass now without  Elliot spotting it, smiling mischeviously, running toward you and throwing himself down onto your chest.  And I can get really rough with him, spin him around, flop him facedown onto the bed, and he just laughs and laughs.  

I realize now that I was extremely cautious with him when he was smaller (although that was probably appropriate.)  The more I play with him, the more I internalize how tough his body is, how flexible, and how much he loves being tossed around.  It gives me confidence to be more aggressive in playing with him, and we’re both happier for it.