Frenzied Play

The little boy and I stagger in the backdoor at the end of the day, happy to be home. Finn exceedingly so. Whereas I, if given the choice, would change into my pajamas and find my way to the couch with a glass of wine and my book, Finn proceeds to buzz about at a frantic pace. You’d think he would be worn out from playing all day at Margie’s house, but perhaps this late afternoon burst of energy is because, just as for adults, there’s no place like home. Maybe he misses his toys. Yesterday he seemed particularly geared up, maybe because he’s been a bit under the weather this week and was finally starting to feel like his normal, fast-paced self. Thus, when we arrived home yesterday, Finn’s first ten minutes “out of the gate” unfolded something like this…

We enter the kitchen greeted by Calvert. Before I manage to get the door shut, Finn “hugs” (or rather lunges on top of) Calvert in the doorway. He climbs off Calvert and plows into the living room shouting “ball.” Finding an acceptable ball among his collection, he begins throwing practice. While Finn follows the ball across the playroom, I follow behind him, attempting to pull off his hat. Throwing the ball again, it hits his head and bounces behind him. Since he can’t immediately locate it, time to move on to another ball. I capture him and attempt to unzip his coat. Trying to scurry away from me, I manage to grab hold of the bottom of the sleeves with his arms behind him, and he is free! Forgetting about the balls, he dumps out a box of flashcards and chooses one to study for a quiet moment, just as the phone rings.

After a moment of looking at his book, Finn glances up and sees I am on the phone. Whining in order to obtain the phone for himself, he stands up and reaches up my legs. I ask Finn if he wants to go up, both as a distraction from the phone and because I have to go to the bathroom. The mere mention of “up” and he scampers toward the stairs, pointing and declaring “up, up.” A quick pause to hug Calvert, who happens to be lounging on the rug in the foyer, and Finn climbs up the stairs in an awkward and precarious attempt to stay on his feet, using the spindles and my hand as leverage.

As we reach the top, I figure Finn will head for his socks, but no, instead he hollers, “brush” and launches into the dark bathroom reaching for Jason’s and my electric toothbrush on the counter. He has a strong interest in brushes, both tooth and hair, probably because they belong to Mama and Papa and are usually kept out of reach. Admonishing myself for indulging this whim rather than saying “no,” we sit on the toilet seat and “play” with the electric tooth brush. First putting on the attachment with the actual brush; then taking the plastic cap on and off, on and off. Finally we delve into the thrill of the vibrations that begin miraculously when he presses the buttons, on and off, on and off, and on. Finn cracks himself up, putting the vibrating brush in his mouth and yanking it back out. This seems to be a game he would be happy to play for quite some time, but I decide the tooth brush is better off back on the counter, otherwise it will surely end up down the stairs.

Frustrated by the mean Mommy’s confiscation of the brush, Finn rushes out of the bathroom to find his next target. Now in Mama and Papa’s room, Finn stops to point up at the light switch and commands “switch.” Again the Mama obliges the baby’s desires and I lift Finn up to let him flip the switch on, and off and on and off. (Too bad Grandma isn’t here to perform this task as it is she who allowed Finn to begin this habit in the first place.)

Once back on the ground, Finn is thrilled to notice that Calvert has attempted to seek refuge in the bedroom, and pauses again to give him a quick hug. Next Finn plops against the bed, hoping to magically climb up. He and I both plunk down in the mess of covers, me thinking we could cuddle, him thinking jumping sounds fun! I start to take off his shoes, but not about to let him jump on the bed. We’ve been reading about what happened to the five little monkeys! With one shoe still on, Finn decides to slither off the bed—luckily he has learned to go feet first, on his belly, and I hold him by the arms to ensure a safe landing.

Now one-shoed he remembers the joy of the socks and runs for his room and the dresser. After just a couple rounds of the socks-down-the-stairs-game, the bathroom door catches his attention and it is time to practice closing the door. Somehow what is normally just a fun few moments of shutting the door, Mommy opening, shutting, opening, turns into a new discovery—slamming the door! Standing a few feet back, Finn realizes he can shove the door and it results in a fabulously loud noise. So, of course, we need to do this more than a few times. The one good thing about this version of playing with the door is that the fingers are well out of harm’s way. A few more slams and I start to imagine the door accidentally locking, with little boy stuck inside the dark bathroom. So this game is over. We close the bathroom door from the hallway and move on for some more fun….Oh, and I still hadn’t gone to the bathroom!

--JAK

Fixed on Elmo

Elmo is a baby narcotic. And red, furry substance abuse abounds in our household. How did this happen?

We have barely exposed Finn to television, save for a few glimpses when he sat up during a break from nursing on Jen's lap, or took a peak from the dinner table on election night. You could tell that he sorta knew that the television was something of a big, magical book, where the characters moved and talked and you didn't have to trouble yourself with the flipping of pages. But, beyond that, he didn't seem to have much concern for it. Which suited us just fine.

About two weeks ago, we exposed him to an Elmo DVD, a seemingly harmless introduction to boob tubing. They're basically all the same. Elmo and his friends discover something cool, like world music or dancing, and riff on it for 20 minutes. There's lots of cute kids and cute puppets doing cute things. Even viewing them as an adult, though, there is a hallucinogenic quality to the episodes, with real people and Muppet people in innocent interplay amid two-dimensional settings, often with quasi-psychedelic motifs. It's a trip.

Since first exposure barely two weeks ago, Finn has not only learned how to say "Elmo," he has also developed the word "watch," and further, and this is the kicker, has now mastered the more complete concept, which he communicates with relentless repetition, in full-on declarative and with pointer finger extended toward the screen: "watch Elmo." Just rapid-fire development, a pace at which some sort of illicit substance must be at play.

Anyway, this has become a daily occurrence, and will doubtless quickly turn even more frequent and likely more fervent should we parents deny the poor child his fix for any length of time and withdrawal sets in.

--JAC

Filing Finn's Words

Sometime around 15 months we simply couldn't keep up with Finn's vocabulary anymore. He's now repeating just about anything you say at him, and he's on to 2- and 3-word sentences. So, here's a nice little archive file of Finn's from the first few months of his verbal life.

touch, ball, papa, kitty, up, down, dog, duck, Mama, door, hat, keys, cheese, fish, “nana” for banana, balloon, shoes, baby, cat, book, spoon, eye(s) (while poking himself in the eye), water, clock, “row, row, row” your boat, right there, hi, no, bye, socks, apple, box, George (as in Curious), Mommy, truck, star, Santa, boom, teacher, uh-oh, Pop-Pop, Joe, people, moo, hair, brush, on, moon, Chicago, blocks, watch, frog, blue, choo-choo, pig, bird, Elmo, buckle, more, button, catch, hot, bath, cracker, broom, snow, “cheers” (while clinking glasses), chair, switch, wheel, back (as in “Mama will be back”), park, under, church, go, pretty, plate, fountain, off, bacon, animals, doggy, football, uh-oh, Kathy, uncle, sit, click, pasta, please, pocket, panda, floor, wall, bell, stuck, walk, home, school, airplane, belly, bowel, icky, sneaky, see, slippery, please, Finley, soccer ball, basketball, Alex’s basketball, stop sign, achoo, right there, penis, fridge, go dog go, wash cloth, help, buckle, animals, truck, car, ready, ok, alright, Target

Firsts: A Retrospective of Finn's First Year and Beyond

I love that these posts are documenting bits and pieces of Finn’s history. Like all parents I imagine, a part of me wishes Finn didn’t have to grow up, that I could freeze him exactly the way he is today and keep him as a 16-month-old forever. I ache to remember every moment of Finn’s life, to hold on to every experience of motherhood. That I cannot remember each and every detail of each and every day makes me sad. Thus, memorializing many, many of Finn’s experiences, milestones, and adventures relieves a bit of my nostalgic sorrow.

At the same time, this post may be a bit boring for the average reader. In fact, the following list is probably not that interesting to anyone other than me. Finn's Firsts. I have actually kept a more detailed version, "A History of Finn." Since keeping track of these milestones seems essential, I figured I'd post them here for history's sake. Don't worry, I resisted the urge to post my entire "History of Jason and Jen."

October 2007
8--Finley entered the world at 2:00 am.
8--First visitors in the hospital, Grandma, Grampa, Great Granny, Uncle Joe, Aunt Robyn, Sarah, Sara, and Kimberly.
10--Finn came home.
12--First walk, around the block.
14--First sponge bath, first outing--to Great Grandma's house.
17--First trip to a restaurant, Nola's Cup.
21--First family outing, to Morton Arboretum.
22--First visit to Grandma and Grampa's house.
25--First real bath.
26--First trip to the Field Museum.
27--First Block Party.

November 2007
1--Cooed.
3--Met his Pop Pop.
7--Trip to the mall.
16--Uncle Jamie came to visit.
20--Met his Nana.
22--Snow.
25--Finn realized he had hands and began to study them.

December 2007
8--Started to reach out and touch, or bat at, objects.
13--Visit to Papa's work.
14--Met first baby friend, Grace.
20--Laughed and laughed and laughed!
23--Trip to Sanibel, first airplane ride.

January 2008
27--Finn rolled over!
29--Visited Mama at work.

February 2008
2--Sat up in a "tripod."
4--Started day care at Margie's & two bottom middle teeth started to come in.
16--Sleepover at Grandma and Grampa's.
22--First cold.

March 2008
1--Sat by himself.
15--Slept for 12 hours.
16--First solid food, rice cereal.
21--Trip to PA, NY, and DC.
29--Loud babbling.

April 2008
1--Said lots of "ba ba ba ba ba."
6--Stood up by himself and ate oatmeal.
13--Ate first vegetables, peas and brown rice.

May 2008
6--Said "da da da da..."
7--Discovered shadows.
9--Woke up on his tummy and ate his first fruit, apple sauce.
15--Four top front teeth.
29--Visited Millennium Park to see Sara and Michelle.

June 2008
7--Signed "fan."
9--First fever.
10--Began to wave.
13--Took a Gymboree class with Mckinley.
26--Trip to Wisconsin.
28--Ate first proteins, tofu and egg yolk.

July 2008
2--Started crawling!
3--Loved watermelon.
4--Enjoyed a pickle.
8--Two more bottom teeth and started pointing, at birds.
10--Said first word: "touch."
23--Stood for a few seconds without holding on.
27--Climbed stairs.

August 2008
1--Learned to raise his arms when asked, "How big is Finn?"
6--Met cousins Ryan and Nathan.
12--Clapped.
14--"Cruised" along furniture.
15--Trip to Union Pier, Michigan.
20--"Walked" with walker, box, wagon, holding hands.
25--Started to put objects in and take them out with a bowl and a ball.

September 2008
1--Pointed to pictures on wall, papa, mama, and self.
3--Said "Mama" or "ma ma ma..."
15--First steps, from the bed to the windowsill.

October 2008
Officially walking!
8--First birthday!
12--First Birthday Fiesta.
13--First (real) haircut.
29--Said a version of "Grandma" and held the phone to his ear.

November 2008
--Leaned over and put his hands & head on the floor when asked to, "go upside down."
--Put his hands out, near his shoulders, as in a shrug, when asked, "where is
something?" (frequently)
--Descended the stairs on his belly.

December 2008
--Walked around the Christmas tree looking at and pointing to the ornaments.
--Loved throwing shells on the beach.
--Liked to look for the moon.

January 2009
--Learned his first letter: O.
--Obsessed with balls.

February 2009
--Began to feed himself with a spoon or fork.
--Liked to run in circles, around someone, and to play ring-around-the-rosey.

March 2009
--Climbed onto the bench in the front hall and a kitchen chair.
--Started to put two word's together: "Mama sit," "Milk please."
--Began to call himself, "Finley."

April 2009
--receives a basketball hoop!
--Singing "ABCD," and "Happy Mama" (instead of "Happy Birthday")
--first ice cream on Mama's birthday
--three word phrases: "more pasta please"


--JAK

Fitting use for socks

So, little man is already developing his own set of idiosyncrasies. Maybe every child has compulsion to throw socks down stairs. Or maybe our child is just really rather a goof. Regardless, what gets me is that Finn seems to be very deliberative about the whole process. He goes to the cabinet, opens it, picks out a sock, closes the cabinet, walks briskly with purpose to the top of the stairs, tosses sock over the gate, pauses to observe, walks back with equal verve to the cabinet, picks out another sock, and repeat. It's play, for sure. But, really it's discovering. It's as if he's the first to discern motion, gravity, ballistics. And, in a sense, he is. No one's taught him these things. He's a pioneer in his own mind. And it's a hoot. What the late physicist Richard Feynman called "the pleasure of finding things out."

And he's also developing one heck of an arm in the process.



--JAC

First Post: It's About Time

We are way behind the times. Two-thousand nine is upon us and we've finally gotten around to creating a family website, which we anticipate many of you will hail if for no other reason than to celebrate the end of annoying emails from us crowding your inbox with excited subject lines, calling you to share in doting on our adorable son while perusing images from his latest escapades. Now, you can dote along with us every time you hit refresh! You're welcome!

Yes, this website will be mostly about Finn and snippets of our life as a family with this magical little being. And we've got lots to catch up on. Little man is fifteen months old now. We have not adequately documented all his high jinks for others to admire. No longer.

So, sit back and relax, and we hope you enjoy the frolic, feats and folly of Finley Harlan Kovar Cascarino and his fun-loving family as much as we will in bringing them to you.

(Check back for periodic updates. Although until we Luddites figure out how this newfangled wizardry works, postings may be sporadic. Patience please.)

--JAC