Play! Play! Play All Day!

Susanne had a wonderful night with good friends, but she was eager to get home to see Paxton. She left early enough to arrive right as his first feeding of the day was getting started. Gigi and Poppy informed her that he did well overnight. There wasn't anything abnormal to report.

Paxton was in his bouncer playing with his toys when Susanne walked through the door. He seemed just as elated to she her as she was to see him. It melted her heart to watch his face light up when he realized it was her.

Susanne played with Paxton for a couple of hours before he started to wind down. He appeared tired and ready for a nap by 11:00am. He slept for three hours before he opened his precious little eyes. Susanne utilized this time to regroup from the night before.

Susanne jammed Paxton's afternoon full of all types of therapy. She had so many activities going that Paxton never got bored. Susanne started out with the exercises that demanded the most energy. She decided to videotape him so that she would have some footage to show the neurodevelopmental psychologist that would be evaluating him in a week at Children's Hospital Boston. She knew all too well that timing was everything. If Paxton just happened to be tired at the time of his appointment when she was assessing him, it could skew the results. This way she had hard evidence of the progress he had made and what he looked like on a good day. She first placed him in a propped sit and watched him hold himself up for at least twenty seconds. She repeated this a few times until he seemed too tired to continue with that exercise. She then moved on to tummy time on the exercise ball. She knew that he always lifted his head the best this way especially if he could watch television at the same time. Paxton sure loved him some TV. Next, she had him on his play gym, mixing it up between assisted and nonassisted play. He was getting so proficient at grasping, reaching, and holding onto toys. He would get so wild and excited during this time. She ended his extended play session with placing him in his bouncer. She set up a musical table within his reach so that he could hit the buttons to activate the lights and the music. She had learned that if she strung a couple of his beaded necklaces on the musical table, he was even more interested and able to entertain himself.

Susanne could see that he was quickly going downhill. He started to yawn, rub his eyes, and squint. She could tell that he was so tired. She immediately put him to bed thinking that he would go right down. For some reason, he was restless. He fought closing his eyes with all of his might. He was probably overtired, which was still such a weird concept for Susanne to reason through. Just like she had done before, she left him in his crib hoping he would eventually shut his eyes. After watching him through the monitor laughing and smiling at himself, she couldn't resist trying to catch it on videotape. Once again, Paxton was too smart for her. He shut it off once he saw the video camera coming his way. He was a ham, but not for the paparazzi. If Susanne wanted hard evidence of his ridiculous cuteness on tape, it would come at a heavy price.

After multiple attempts to get Paxton to go to sleep, she realized that he was overheated. When she would occasionally check on him, he was sweaty. Luckily, he didn't get out of sorts like he usually did when he was hot. She decided to hold him for a while and see if he would settle down better while snuggling with his mama. This seemed to do the trick, which made them both happy. Paxton was also thrilled that Poppy turned the thermostat down especially for him.

Leah came over in the evening for a short visit. It was always nice for Susanne to get to hang out with her big sis! Later that night, Scott returned home from his weekend away. It was a wonderful feeling for Susanne to have him back in her arms. She couldn't wait for the day when all of the traveling back and forth was over. She looked forward to being able to see Scott on a daily basis and finally getting to feel like a real family for the first time since Paxton was born. Susanne was excited about what the future held for them.