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The following is a "Chronicle", a history of our time with Paden.
I had so much fun writing about our trip to Taiwan in
"The Great Paden Adventure",
I wanted to continue writing about his growth and the exciting
times we have together. He'll probably ask me later, "Why the
heck did you do THAT?!?", and my answer will be
because I wanted to remember all I can about this time. It
is a very special time, and the only thing that has meant
as much has been meeting and marrying Lynne.
- Standing unattended for sixty seconds
- Lots of vocalizations, first word "mama"
- 29 & 1/2 inches in height
- Eating "3rd" foods
Please e-mail me with your comments, I'd love to hear from you.
Enjoy!!
The Eleventh Month, February-March 2003
For example, we now have these little "pockets" of time
in which to accomplish our tasks. Case in point: right now,
I am typing this while Paden is down for his morning nap.
I'll have about an hour to an hour and a half to
accomplish the morning taks, and then I'll have
to divert my attention to him when he wakes. I tried
to vacuum the house with him in my arms yesterday, but
it was like trying to hold a marlin out of water. Paden
was so curious about the vacuum and all it's noise
and what I was doing with it that it became impossible
for me to maintain a good grip on him, and I had to give up.
I'm sure that "experienced" parents are laughing right now as they
read this.
In addition to the time changes, I find myself doing things I would
never have done in any other sane environment. Who else
would stick their nose right up against someone else's butt
to determine the presence of bodily waste? Not even in my
drunkest days in college would I have done that! However, it's
a regular, almost hourly, exercise these days.
We have read and been told that an adopted child will
"blossom" when they have adjusted to their new surroundings
and family. Paden blossomed like the mushroom cloud from a nuclear
explosion.
His adjustment seems more that it was an adjustment for us, as
So life goes on here at "The Palace of Paden". We have learned that
there are roughly about 47,000 different baby foods available, and we're
trying to let Paden experience them all. The eating machine
that he is, he has pretty much picked Carrots as his favorite,
with Squash a close second. Truth be told, we have yet to find
anything he won't eat; he inhales it all!
For the most part, we've only
been giving him vegetables; it's only been the last week
that we've started the fruits and meats, so we're anxiously
waiting for the ballots on these new taste treats.
What we are not waiting for with the same anxious abandon
is the sugar from all those fruits to hit the bloodstream.
Already, the kid runs like the Energizer Bunny, and with the
same impact of a battering ram. He goes full tilt every
minute that he is awake and doesn't
even realize he's tired until we've put him in his crib. At
that point, he protests vocally for about the length of
the opening strains to Mozart's "The Magic Flute", then
drops like a sack of wet cement. With the current energy level
of a top fuel dragster, we're exhausted by the end of the day.
He has also continued in his dislike of pants, socks, and blankets.
He continually takes or kicks them off, whenever possible.
We've taken to checking in on him several times before
we go to sleep, as he inevitably will be on top of the
blanket rather than visa versa. He's not too fond of
hats, either, but I think that's true of most babies.
Paden is a great shopper, though. On the few occasions that
we have taken him out, he observes the world from his lowered
vantage point, carefully waiting to see if Mom and Dad forgot
about the Paden Radius where he can make a quick grab at a colorful
item or three. Perhaps his best commentary about being in the stroller
came during a trip to Costco, where he decided that the noise of the
hour would be a raspberry. In fact, he was so good and so loud at
making these raspberry noises that one woman questioned her husband
why he was making those sounds to her!
Paden's mobility took a gigantic leap in speed after he arrived.
While he already was crawling when we came home, he now
knows how to kick in the afterburners. Warp Six, Mr. Sulu!
It's almost a magic act; we turn our heads for a split-second,
and he is ten feet from where he was that split-second earlier.
However, his aversion to being restrained has almost disappeared
with regards to his car seat and his stroller. In fact, he now
rather enjoys car rides..., that is, when he can stay
awake! He's much like me in that regard; I can't be a passenger
in a car without feeling sleepy. So if the car ride is longer than
twenty minutes, he tends to get a little groggy.
But when he's awake, he's looking around
and even starts "singing" to the music on the radio (Tom Jones isn't
in trouble yet). Same with the stroller, as he knows it means
new things to look at are going to be passing by. Even the shopping
carts are the new type of rollercoaster, thoroughly grabbing
his attention.
He still doesn't like when you hold his arms or hands, though, when
you're trying to do something (or keep him from
doing something!). This is especially true during feeding time,
and occasionally it's a wrestling match for control
of the spoon. He's as quick as a Black Belt in Karate and
almost as accurate. You have to be paying attention all the
time, unless you're like me where Strained Peas will blend into
the Hawaiian Shirt of the Day.
And, finally, Paden is still tossing in his sleep. He never seems to
stay in the same place for more than about ten minutes. It's
not as if he's not sleeping well, he's just, well, a tosser.
He generally goes to bed in the evening about 8:00pm, and we go
to sleep about 10:00pm. As I mentioned above,
in that two hours, we go into check
on him (okay, actually, we just can't help looking at the
cute little guy!), and each time he's in a different position!
Mostly, he sleeps with his butt up in the air. Go figure.
Well, that's a lot for this first entry, come back again next month!
The Twelfth Month, March-April 2003
The last month of Paden's First Year has begun. As before,
he is growing by leaps and bounds. We mean that literally.
Although his first doctor's appointment confirmed what we
already knew about his weight (about 17 pounds), we now
suspect that he's gained about three pounds since we've taken
control. Unfortunately, we only have a bathroom scale to
make a scientific determination about the increase, which
is as accurate as throwing a baseball with a blindfold
on. But I held him on the scale with me, and then I stood
on the scale and subtracted my weight from the total of
the first weighing (and before you get aby big ideas (no pun
intended ), no, I won't give you the numbers to test your
own math skills). But even without the inaccurate scale,
he feels heavier, and he seems to have filled out
around his cheeks and bottom jaw. Even the girls at
Heartsent agree that he looks heavier.
While he will eat everything and anything, he has shown
preferences for certain foods, and we have learned that
when we are in a hurry, we can give him those and he will
suck them down like an industrial vacuum cleaner. His
favorites so far in the vegetable world are Carrots,
Winter Squash, Peas, Green Beans, and Sweet Potatos. What's
left? Not much. In the Fruit aisle, Bananas reign supreme,
followed by Apples (alone or mixed with other stuff: Cherries,
Blueberries), Plums, and even Prunes! He also likes fowl
meats, like Chicken and Turkey, but not so much Beef or Bacon.
But, we're sure these tastes will change in time, although we
hope they don't. And he hasn't gotten into the exotic veggies,
like Asparagus (yechh!!!) or Brussel Sprouts. Some of those
have to wait until he has some real teeth. No eggs until he's
a year old, but that is sooner rather than later, and my
money's on him devouring scrambled eggs like nobody's business!
So walking can not be far behind. He gets all rubbery when
you try to "practise" walking with him (see: Boneless Chicken
Man above), and won't really try. But I think that any minute
now, the little light bulb will go off, and so will he.
The fun will really begin, for Mom and Dad that is, as they chase
him across the house. Yes, Doctor, I've been getting plenty
of exercise, why do you ask?
Paden is very healthy, as attested by his doctor. However, that
determination was now without is pain, as Paden has had to
undergo three blood tests. The first one was suprisingly
easy, as the techs inserted the needle in his arm while he was
looking the other way, and he didn't start crying until ten
second later when he discovered the intrusion. The second test
was a bit harder as they has trouble with locating his vein
that time, and took a lot longer. Being the recipient of
hundreds of blood tests, I.V.'s, etc, I know how painful
it can be when they put the needle in and wriggle it around.
He was not a happy camper.
The First Birthday, April 12th, 2003
May of Paden's relatives came, including Grandpa and both Grandmas
(one all the way from Canada!).
Also in attendance were Kevin's sister and Paden's cousin, Jacob,
and Kevin's Aunt and Uncle and their grandchildren. Many of Kevin
and Lynne's friends from the Kevin's Rock'n'Roll band,
The Cadillac Potatoes, and some
high school and college friends. In fact, Kevin's friend, Dave,
and his twho children, drove down from Reno to attend the party.
Paden received a few gifts, but the best gift was
the pot-luck dishes that everyone brought. More than a few recipies
were traded between new friends. The Westies attended, in their
own Hawaiian shirst, looking festive and waiting for the occasional
dropped tid-bit of food.
We would like to thank everyone who came and shared
this special moment with us and Paden. Though he
won't remember it, we have plenty of video to show
future girlfriends!
The first month since Paden arrived has come and gone. It feels like it
has been much longer, as if he was born to us. Our life, for
the most part, has settled down to a routine, mostly organized around him.
I guess that's how other families with babies do it. Truthfully, the seat of power
switches to the youngest member of the family because the schedules
must work around their needs. We knew our schedules would change, but
I don't think we knew specifically how.
he seems to have casually slid right into his spot with no problems
at all! In fact, he is so comfortable, he gets a bit cranky
about the fact that there are some places in the house he can't
quite visit yet. So far, the kitchen, breakfast room, and family
room are all open to him, but he insists on seeing everything else.
I would say that he is so adjusted, he's learning to "speak his mind"
at even this early stage of the game.
Two more favorites in the food aisle continue to be Cheerios
and breadsticks. And a new contender in the snack food arena
is Kix, a corn-based cereal. However, it seems he's not quite
as fond of it as the others, and the dogs seem to benefit from
the offerings more than Paden does.
And while he obviously doesn't walk yet, we wexpect the Press Conference
announcing that new innovation to be any day now. His skills at
"Furniture Cruising" have definitely left the Beta stage,
he is ready for Primetime and can cruise with the best of them.
He has also put together the logic of "Target" and
"Acquisition", as he has learned that something out-of-reach
on one side of the coffee table is easily within reach from
the other side, and he moves with the determination of
a trained scout.
As far as the Mexican Standoff with the dogs goes, it's mellowed a bit,
but there is
still some animosity between the two. It mostly comes from the
differences in the definition of "petting". Snootles' definition
does not include the terms "grabbing hold of fur and yanking". Oh,
well, I guess they'll eventually deal with each other in their own way.
This would definitely seem plausible with his food intake.
The kid is an eating machine, and rarely does what we put
in front of him go back as leftovers for the next meal.
Breakfast is a big bowl of rice or oat cereal mixed with
formula and a couple adult-sized handfulls of Cheerios.
Lunch is two baby food jars of, well, baby food, and
a few (three or four) breadsticks. Dinner is similar to
lunch, with the exception of a couple baby food cookies
in place of the breadsticks. In addition, he has a bottle
of formula before every sleeping period, anywhere from
five to eight ounces of fluid. That would almost be enough
to satisfy me! And if we're having dinner after his,
he's very insistent on trying our food. If it's okay for
him, we'll let him have a bit, such as the crust from our
bread or toast if we're having spaghetti, or a bit or
three of rice if that's on our plate. But, believe me,
ONE bite is never enough, and he starts
to make a very distinctive sound, a noise similar to
"huh?" or "now?". He will continue to make this noise
untial a) you give him another bite, or b) you've
finished. He has learned fast, and we have to eat
fast!
On the mobility front, he's ready to burst, we can feel that.
He crawls at lightning speed; he's gotten better, faster, stronger,
just like the Six Million Dollar Man. But he can now stand
unattended..., if he's not thinking about it! I've had him
distracted for sixty seconds while he's cheerfully and
unconsciously stood on his own, but the second he realizes
he doing it, he folds like a lawn chair. And you can get him
to stand at all after that, he becomes the Boneless Chicken Man
with his legs showing all the strength of warm taffy.
Watching him while he is standing alone is interesting,
though. You can almost see his brain learning
the necessary patters and creating new synapse connections
to make this an instinctual effort. And I think he sort
of knows this, too, because there have been times when
he's stood next to a wall and turned to look behind him.
At that moment, he will let go of the wall (again, the distraction)
and stand unaided.
Accomplishments:
Paden had his first birthday with a small intimate
gathering...of about fifty.
It was a very fun event, and Paden enjoyed all the attention (he's
such a social butterfly!). As always, he was a hit of anyone who
see him, and the big event of the moment of the party,
the cake, was hilarious. While Paden was unsure of the cake
at first, he started by tiny finger-tip tastes of
the icing, and eventually progressed to handfuls as
fast as he could grab them.
