Parenthood: Week 441 – 9/20/21

Lucas is starting to be able to move faster. He's at the edge of running. It's like a shuffle or a jog at this point. When he's doing it, you can tell that he's working really hard. More often than not, he looks pleased with his locomotion and sometimes makes little happy grunting sounds.

When he walks fast, he holds his left arm at his side with his forearm at a right angle like he's about to reach out to shake someone's hand. Then he lets his right arm loose, so it waves behind him as he moves. It's adorable.

Lucas earlier today slid off the couch head first. I panicked for a second, but he giggled the whole time with his head on the ground and his feet still on the couch. Currently, when we go to the playground, he's more adventurous than Ethan, going down large slides and trying to climb whatever he comes across.

Ethan came into bed to cuddle with me a couple of times last week in the middle of the night. Most of the time, he climbs in bed. I cuddle with him for ten minutes and then carry him back to his bed. After that, he settles back into his bed without any issue. Sometimes it's annoying, but at this point, I don't really mind. I haven't been sleeping very well for the past month because of some physical issues, so it's not messing with my sleep.

The other day I asked Ethan about this:

Me: Honey-bear, if you let daddy sleep more, I'll have more energy to play with you.

Ethan: I want to give you hugs.

Me: Well, I don't get as much sleep when you come into my bed and cuddle.

Ethan: I'm helping you sleep by giving you hugs!

Me: No, you aren't, but it's ok. Come here and give me a hug!

Ollie heard about Pokémon from someone at school. So I got him a Pokémon book. It was an excruciating process, but I did read that whole book to him. It had 800 entrees. A different friend gave him some Pokémon cards. They sat in a drawer, and recently he started looking at them again. I asked him if he wanted to learn how to play the game, so I bought two duel battle decks to teach him how to play.

I grew up playing collectible card games, so I caught on pretty quickly. We've been through a lot of fun together. First, it was Candyland, then eventually Chess, and Chinese Chess, and it's wonderful to arrive at Pokémon. Unlike reading the book, I genuinely enjoy playing this game, and I'm impressed with how quickly Ollie is learning the strategy and the details of the game.