What's your name?

As of yesterday, he can provide the correct answer to this most important question.  I'd say he pronounces it more like "Gafton".  He can also tell his parents what their names are, when asked (i.e., "Neva" and "Andrew"). It's very cute.  Interestingly, he's been able to tell us his teachers' and friends' names for quite some time now.

Runaway

In the words of his teacher Mitch, Grafton has been starting to "test his limits".  To our chagrin, we've also been witness to this behavioral shift.  Honestly, it's not been all that bad, as he only acts up on days when he has a sleep deficit.  But today was one such day.  On this day, Grafton spent considerable time refining his techniques for ignoring parental questions and requests.  He worked on how to feign interest in any nearby inanimate object when something is asked of him, appearing completely entranced by the object while he studies its finest details.  Grafton also practiced his "I was heading somewhere important before you started talking to me" technique, in which he slyly meanders away towards a distant destination that clearly is more important and more interesting than any trifling talk that might be emanating from his parents lips.  All of this we can take in stride, and sometimes we even get a little, hidden chuckle out of watching his antics be put to use.

But then he went too far.  It was about 6pm in the evening, and Dad was gathering together all the trash for the next day's curbside pickup.  Mom was outside with Grafton, and he was enjoying himself while pushing around an empty cooler-on-wheels at the top of the driveway.  When Dad came outside with the recycling, he saw that Grafton was starting to head down the driveway and asked him to turn around.  In an instant, Grafton dropped the cooler to the ground, and started running full-stride, downhill toward the street.  Busy with the trash, Dad called out to Mom, "you'd better go get him!"  She started down after him.  Usually Grafton will run a short distance and then stop, just to see if he's caught anyone's attention.  But not this time.  He started running faster as he heard Mom's sandals flip-flopping behind him!  Mom was slowly closing the gap between her and Grafton--but not quickly enough!  Realizing he might actually reach the street before catching him, she starts to yell wildly at him to stop, but I think this only spurred on his escape.  Dad, who was originally convinced that Mom was going make the catch halfway down the 150' driveway, stood helpless as he watched the pursuit unfold in slow motion.  Feet before the driveway ended, Mom was able to snag the little sprinter, who was given a proper scolding, and then brought inside for a lengthy timeout.  We were both in a little shock at how quickly this dangerous situation unfolded, and then how fortunate we all were that it ended without incident.  Perhaps we'll start our search again for a new home, preferably one located at the end of a cul-de-sac.

Clear Lungs

We brought Grafton to his pulmonologist today for his third follow-up check up, since his hospitalization.  His lungs sounded clear and the doctor agreed that his health looked good.  His oxygen saturation measured 100%.  The doctor explained that in order to test the theory that his asthma-like symptoms were caused by an ibuprofen allergy, we'll have to subject him to the medicine while under medical care, as they watch for recurrent symptoms.  We're not thrilled about doing this, but it will good to know whether he needs to avoid ibuprofen.

Miscellany, 8/9

• On Sunday, while eating dinner at Nana & PopPop's, one of the side dishes was fresh peas from a local garden.  Grafton liked the peas so much, he requested, "More peas please!" (they really were sweet and delicious).
• Grafton spent hours this past weekend playing in a toy car, pushing it around, and getting in and out more times than anyone would care to count. He had fun pretending to be a pizza delivery driver, bringing make-believe pizza to anyone that asked for it.  PopPop paid him once with a piece of paper and asked for change; later on Grafton remembered this and gave Nana change after making a delivery.
• Recently, at night when Grafton wakes and wants someone to check on him, instead of crying, he simply repeats, "Mommy and Daddy coming soon", "Mommy coming soon", or "Daddy coming soon".  Later the same night he requested, "Blanket on".
• He counted to 8, while reviewing the 10 instruments shown in his "Zin Zin Zin, A Violin" book.
• He can recite letters A through G in order.
• Reading his "My Car" book with Mom, he could tell us what  the last word of each sentence is on each of the first few pages, including "my car", "clean", "oil", "gasoline", "wheels", and "rain" (wipers).  Interestingly, he told us "signs", but one page too early, so he's clearly memorizing and recalling parts of this book.  When asked who the character was (Sam), he said "boy" and then "Grafton", when asked the character's name.  This is one of the first times he used his name without being prompted.
• In the tub, Grafton was playing with a new boat, which came with a small fish, but which was missing.  He remembered it was "outside" on the back deck and asked Mama to retrieve it.
• Capable of completing his peg puzzles now, matching up the pieces and rotating them as necessary.
• Enjoyed playing with a long piece of cardboard, with upturned ends, standing on it and jumping up and down.  Mama asked him if it was a skateboard, and he said yes.

See also, "Miscellany, 7/26"

The Be Bop Link

Now we know why Grafton loves his "Charlie Parker Played Be Bop" book so much!  According to Wikipedia, "The most notable player of a Grafton saxophone was Charlie Parker"
[research provided by ntolopko]

Mine

Having just returned from food shopping, we were all sitting down in the living room enjoying a bowl of blueberries together. Grafton's a big fan of blueberries, but he was willing to share the snack with his parents. He even went so far as to grab a handful out his Daddy's hand and brought them over to his Mama, who was laying down on the couch. We told him, "That was so sweet to bring Mama blueberries!" and he clearly understood because he went back to the bowl to do it again. After grabbing another handful, he started walking slowly over to Mama, but by the time he arrived all the blueberries had been consumed (we'll probably have to discourage him from getting into the pizza delivery business). He returned to the bowl to eat some more himself, and now he started cramming more into his mouth with each handful. Daddy had been enjoying the blueberries as well, and so far Grafton seemed to enjoy sharing the afternoon treat. But the bowl was getting low. Seeing the bottom of the bowl growing larger, Grafton's willingness to share evaporated, and when Daddy went reaching for one more berry, Grafton declared "Mine!" (muffled somewhat by a mouthful of blueberries). This was the first time we heard him lay claim to property. Daddy reached again for another tasty berry, and Grafton again protected the dwindling supply with a much clearer "Mine!" I asked him if Daddy could have a blueberry, and he blurted out a clear and definitive "No!" I then asked if Mama could have a blueberry. Again, "No!" We let him finish the bowl. We'll teach him the virtues of sharing another time.

Six Legs Walking

We took Grafton for a walk this evening, after the weather cooled off. He had eaten a healthy portion of his dinner and seemed full of energy, and we thought he might be willing to do most of this walk on his own.  With stroller and backpack left behind in the trunk of the RAV4, we headed out for our regular Mount Holyoke College lower lake loop walk.  Grafton did great!  He stayed focused on the path ahead and ran and walked ahead of us and along side us.  We stopped to watch a pick-up game of Ultimate Frisbee, but before long he was back to walking.  He crossed over the lower lake dam bridge on his own, and kept up a brisk pace along the east side of the lake.  A pair of young ladies were out jogging, and he pointed out to us that they were in fact "running!"  He ran alongside for a couple of seconds, but couldn't keep up.  Before long we were around the lake.  Grafton stopped for a bit to play in a gazebo, and while normally he would get interminably side tracked by such an activity, he soon decided that walking was more important.  We saw a couple of bunnies near the shore, and Grafton's quick approach made them dart away into the bushes.  He found that rather amusing.  Passing by a bike rack, he paused to make a loop around it, and checked out the left-behind bike chains.  But then, back to walking!  Over the bridge (parents carefully flanking on him on the sides), across the street (parents holding his hands, and explaining how to look for cars), and onto the gardens.  It took a little coaxing to convince him the gardens were worthwhile, but he soon agreed and set off for the destination with unwavering speed.  We looped through the paths of the garden, took a quick rest on a bench, and them more walking.  Grafton then climbed the full staircase (about 2 flights), hands free, right leg leading the way up each step.  He was huffing and puffing and even told us it was hard, but he never gave up.  Some more hand holding as we crossed another street (and another parental explanation of how to look out for cars), and then back into the grassy fields for...more running.  Another bicycle rack was nearby and he passed back and forth through its U-shaped profile.  After collecting and passing out some acorns to his parents, Grafton was back on the move.  Running down the hill to quad, we approached the large field in the middle. As we neared another bicycle rack, and we asked him this time how many bicycles there were, and he correctly reported the number "thwee".  Thinking it might be a fluke, and seeing three Adirondack chairs nearby, we asked him how many again, and "thwee" once again was his reply.  We decided to sit down for a rest in the chairs.  He enjoyed sliding back in the deep, sloped bottom of the Adirondack chair, and didn't even seem to mind smacking his head against the back rest once.  Soon, a small army of kids from a sports (?) camp entered the field and soon began sitting down around our chairs.  They were perhaps 8-10 years old.  Grafton was intrigued.  He watched as they gathered and kept his eye on a ball they were kicking around.  Eventually one of the kids decided to lay down on his back to rest, and Grafton pointed out that he was sleeping.  Grafton, who was probably tired from all the walking, mimicked the "sleeping" kid and laid down on the grass, looking up at the sky.  From his reclined position, he decided to start "exercising" (his words) and began lifting his legs, left first, then right, and so on.  The kids were beginning to watch him, thinking his antics were amusing.  Grafton must have noticed the growing audience, because he then turned over and performed a downward dog yoga move, looking at his audience upside down through his legs.  This achieved a positive reaction from the kids, and so he continued the show by moving to a modified downward dog pose with his left leg up in the air.  Then his right.  Back and forth.  The kids were now laughing and applauding our little guy.  We asked him if we was doing yoga and he confirmed the fact by repeating the word for everyone to hear.  Kids started asking him for high-fives, and he withdrew at this point, feeling pangs of shyness.  But after some more yoga moves, he felt renewed confidence and gave out a few high-fives.  It was already well past his bed time, but we couldn't get him to leave on his own volition.  We tried walking away about 50 feet, but he was fully content to remain where he was and even bid us a goodbye or two.  Eventually, we convinced him to leave and he said goodbye to the kids.  We carried him a bit at this point to try to get home soon, but he still had energy left to walk and run on his own, and so we let him.  Fortunately, we averted an almost certain visit to the emergency room, as Grafton was running down a hill toward a stone staircase.  Andrew saw the impending danger, worrying that Grafton might trip before reaching the staircase, and so ran over to intercept him.  And trip he did--he went flying head first toward the staircase!  Fortunately, Andrew caught Grafton's head with his hand just before impact.  Phew.  We carried him the rest of the way back.  We all look forward to our next walk together.