First, I will say, he has become very fiesty. I think we've always known this little guy has quite the personality, but he has added a bit of show-off, fiesty, don't mess with me attitude. I suppose this is actually a good thing.... I am sure he has had this within him all along as he has faced his challenges head on, but we had not seen... or should I say felt it till now.
I will give you an example. When I am holding him and introduce him to a new person, he puckers his lips, glares at the new face and proceeds to scratch my face! He doesn't leave marks, except a bad impression and an embarrassed mama! I am really hoping that this little phase passes soon!
That example was not so cute, however I will now give you an example that will make you smile (or at least makes me smile).
Second, he is a show-off. If he is in his wheels and someone comes to see him or there are people around him, he starts doing really fast spins in his wheelchair! After a few fast spins he looks up and grins really big at everyone. If a new person comes up again, he repeats his little show. It makes me laugh every time.
He has been getting around any way he can, wheel, crawl and scoot. And he likes to get away! The other day I went to get something in the bathroom and he was in his room. I heard his bedroom door shut, then hysterical toddler laughing. He had crawled across his bedroom and shut the bedroom door on me! He thought he was SO big and SO funny!
Third, he is loud. No matter where we are, he lets us know if he is pleased or displeased with the situation. This is not always great, like at church or the library, but other times, it does help me out like when I ask him if he wants something. He also gets really excited about things like Elmo, dogs and watching his big brother play Mario Cart. He wants to be sure everyone else gets excited about these things too. I can hardly explain his little motion, but he does a small gasp (when he sees something like the above things), looks at you, and turns his head back twice, very fast. This is often repeated by another head bob, a point and "look!" I wish I could capture this on camera, but it is always so fast and sporadic, I am just not sure it will happen.
I probably say this at every age, but he really is at a fun age right now. It is so fun to see all the sides of his little personality emerge. It is neat to see what his likes and dislikes are. Even his vocabulary is changing. Throughout the past 6 months, he has evolved from called his brother (Gabe).... Bubba, Babe, Gabe, Gabey, Gabe Gabe, and now Gabra (I think perhaps his attemps at Gabriel). He adores Gabe and often wants to do what Gabe is doing.
Despite the small challenges that a fiesty child may cause, I am actually very thankful for his strong personality. I know it has been within him his whole life, fighting to be his best and showing the world, he is unstoppable!
