running not walking

Okay, so Asa isn't officially walking yet but he sure is trying. He's got a little push-car that he can either sit down and ride around the house or he can stand up and push while he walks along behind or beside it. His new favorite activity seems to be to pushing it around the house until he crashes into a wall or piece of furniture and gets stuck.

The thing is, after a day or so of walking a few careful steps with it he has now decided that running behind it is the thing to do. All of a sudden that kid was tearing around the house at a pace that just shocked Jeff and me. I mean, he's running. Not walking. Running.

Of course, take away the push-car and he's just standing there so I can't say he's a bi-ped yet but he's got the idea in his head. You can see his little brain working on it while he stands there. He'll bend his knee and the heel of his foot will come off the floor just a bit, as if he's about to take a step forward and then he'll change his mind and just sit his little bootie right down on the floor.

It's adorable and sweet and it's making me increasingly worried that his first step will happen when I'm not looking. I'm nervous to leave him at daycare for the seven hour stretch he's there for fear the older kids will inspire him just enough to get those little feet moving. I don't want to shower until he's gone to bed so I can be sure I'm not lathering up while he's downstairs giving Jeff a great show of his first steps. It's going to be such a huge moment ... But I have a feeling that even if I do miss those first steps, I'll be so amazed at watching him walk over the coming weeks that I'll get over it pretty quickly.

I know I'm biased but I have to say, every day Asa amazes me with how quickly he picks things up. He's a smartie, a sweetie and snugly little guy and I'm so glad he's mine! I'll get a video up of his current push-car walking so you can see what the little guy is up to first hand!

it's hard to hear you over all this screaming

So Asa's surgery was a success yesterday and we couldn't be happier or more relieved! We were up at 5am getting things pulled together and out the door just before 6 for an on-time arrival at the surgical center in Fairfax. The staff was great and I really can't say enough good things about the whole event.

What I can tell you is that when people warned us that he would "scream" when he woke-up from the anesthesia I don't think we realized the extent of the screaming we would face. Normally Asa does not scream. In fact the only time I really remember him screaming is the first night of an ear infection or when he had to get those antibiotic injections. But in both cases the type of screaming was different, it had a sort of frantic, 'I'm in pain, make it stop' sort of quality to it ...

The waking up from anesthesia scream is entirely different. It's more guttural. It's a cry that sounds angry and scared and he was inconsolable. The first five minutes were made of up of a bucking but semi-limp baby screaming without stopping. The next five minutes he was fully in control of his body again and was extremely angry, slapping away offerings of juice or water with fury. The following five minutes he was clamped on to me like a baby monkey hanging on for dear life, occasionally stopping the screaming to whimper and sniffle and do those big intakes of breath that we do when we've been near hysteria for so long that we're bordering on hyperventilating. The following five minutes were snuggles mixed with infrequent but intense bursts of screaming.

At this point we dressed him and headed down to the car. We paced the parking lot for a good ten minutes making sure he was calm before even attempting to put him in his car seat, and apparently ten minutes was not long enough. I've never struggled with him like that but thankfully, we had planned ahead and brought his favorite food, which Jeff very wisely started feeding him while they both sat in the backseat of the car. After another ten minutes, we called it quits and decided that he was just going to have to cry for a bit and then (hopefully) fall asleep in his car seat while we battled rush-hour traffic to get home.

Fifteen minutes (and four miles) later, he was out. And for the first time in our lives, Jeff and I did what so many parents before have done, we drove around and around and around for the next hour and a half to ensure the baby stayed asleep. We tooled around neighborhoods looking at the architecture and trees of the nicer, older areas of Alexandria. We ran a couple of errands, Jeff slowing the car just enough for me to jump out and in safely so as not to wake the baby ... We drove and drove until little man opened his eyes and then we knew it was time to go home.

Once we got home he was fine, he had just needed to sleep it off. Asa was back to his normal happy, silly, sweet and cuddly self. Playing with his toys, climbing on and over Midnight, totally healthy and normal with no ear infection in sight. It turned out to be a fantastic day and well worth the hour of screaming to know that he should stay healthy for the foreseeable future. But fair warning to parents who have to put their kids under for ear tubes, when they warn you that they will be "grumpy" or "irritable" or "fussy" when they wake up, remember this story and plan for an hour of angry baby-rage unlike anything you've seen before and be sure you gas tank is full. And then plan for one of the most pleasant family afternoons you've had in a long time and enjoy the wild roller coaster of parenting a baby.