Sunday, May 17, 2009

Not such a lonely number

I've never met a child so completely content, happy even, with his own company as Ethan is. He's always been this way, preferring his own company to anyone else's.
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When he was a baby, I worried that maybe he was autistic, because he didn't seem to want or need interaction with anyone. He didn't care about being held, or played with, he didn't need to be entertained or pacified in any way. And he was down right irritated by any attention from strangers, refusing to be held, or even talked to by anyone he didn't know (much to the disappointment of his visiting grandmas). If someone outside of the immediate family tried to engage him, he'd pull away and turn his head. He didn't fuss or cry (he never showed much emotion at all), but his body language made it very clear that he was not happy about his space being invaded. He was a very late talker, but after lots of exams, including a hearing test (which he failed because he refused to even acknowledge the doctor administering the test) we determined that he was completely normal, and now we joke that he didn't talk because he just didn't have anything to say!
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Being a very social, talkative, touchy-feely kind of person, I was so sad that my adorable baby boy had absolutely no desire to interact with me, outside of feeding and diapering. Even at only 9 - 10 mths old, he'd play by himself for hours! But now that he's an active 4 year old, I'm beginning to appreciate the fact that he can still go literally hours with no requirements of me at all. He's much more sociable now, he'll yak your ear off about any number of subjects, enjoys playing with his neighborhood friends, loves going to school and even frequently indulges me with cuddles, but on days like today, a long, lazy Sunday, he's just as happy providing his own company and entertainment, leaving me free to surf the net, watch a mushy love story on TV, read a book (anything except housework, LOL).
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Since about 9:00 this morning, he's been playing and romping all over the house and yard, doing his own thing: reading, building with blocks, playing "post office", "restaurant" (where he's the cook, the waiter and the customer) and various games of Transformers, Pokemon and miscellaneous fight/attack games like only a little boy can create. He's colored, played with cars and trains, dug holes, built forts out of sticks and rocks, hunted bugs.
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It's now 7:30p and the sun has set, but after over 10 hours of self-imposed exile, he's outside, happily jumping away on the trampoline, all alone, singing the alphabet at the top of his lungs.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

haha. oh, he'll never feel lonely.

Anonymous said...

What a content little bub you got there, I think he can perceive things and situations well and is very perceptive, I think that deserves a congratulatory pat on the back for mum!

Anonymous said...

I love you son;) Want to swap with a moody 4 year old?! Great blog BTW.I enjoyed having a look around.

shinshu life said...

What a cutie! Were your girls like that, too? I'm bemused that with Meg I can't move out of the room before she calls me to talk or ask what I'm doing and why? why? why? Where as I can roam the house calling Amy's name and she won't answer as 'I'm busy, mummy'. Here's to self contented kids, hey?

Bryn said...

Gigi - and I always worried that he'd be lonely, being so much younger than our other kids and not having the built-in playmates like they all had.

GJ - trust me, he comes by these traits all on his own! I'm the least perceptive, and most discontented person I know! LOL

Maggie - thanks! Been there, done that with the moody 4 y.o. (mixing in liberal amounts of clinging and whining as well!)

Fukases - Gabi has always been very independent, and always entertains herself well, though not to the extent E does. My Meg, on the other hand, was constantly "up my butt", my constant shadow, needing me to watch every trick, play a part in every game and always needing to be a part of whatever I was doing. She's STILL like that a lot of the time! She's no good at all being by herself or playing alone.