Party Animal? Only if it’s a mouse…

We went to our friends’ little boy’s first birthday party today. Of course, it was scheduled for almost exactly when we try to the J-man down for his nap (not that he sleeps every day, but we try!). He had a good time running around their open floor plan house, although in the beginning, he felt it necessary to drag me along too.

There were probably 10 other kids there. I would say maybe 2 of them were near J-man’s age. They talked, maybe not clearly, but with actual words. They ate real food. They played with the toys provided, and even to a certain extent with the other kids.

My kid? He walked around and around, and played with the front door and the chair-rail on the wall. Other than that, one of us was holding him. I don’t believe there was any voluntary interaction on his part. Yes, if someone were in J-man’s way on his trips around the downstairs, he would push them out of the way. There was a playroom set up – J-man refused to go in there (although it WAS pretty loud). He ate – nothing. He drank – nothing.

When J-man was 22 ½ months old, he finally started to walk by himself. There wasn’t a physical reason he couldn’t do it before then; he’d been cruising since he was 1. We had to teach him how to fall safely, because it didn’t occur to him to put out his arms to block his fall, and he ended up face-planting the two times he tried letting go. Finally, one evening he just started walking. None of that “take 2 wobbly steps and sit down” stuff for him. The next day, he started running. It was like he had to make the decision to Just Do It.

Sometimes I want to say, “Just talk already! Just eat already!”