I'm very curious to see what kind of person my son will become as he grows up. Here are just some of the things I think about. Shane, if you're reading this 10 years from now: 1) I hope you've learned how to read (if not, get your butt in gear at school!) and 2) I hope you get a kick out of it.
Left-handed?
Shane often flails around with both his arms, but he tends to use the left more. I don't know if it's because I'm right handed and I used to always hand stuff towards his left (since that's my good side) or if I'm just dreaming. He definitely reaches out with his left more often and more accurately.
Yoga or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
I think my kid is made out of play-doh, rubber, or some other malleable substance. He spends most of the time he's not sleeping on his back trying to jam one (or both) of his feet into his mouth! There were four out of five of his toes wiggling around in there this morning. I've joked with my friends that he has a good rubber guard, because he's the only person I know who's likely to lose an eye to one of his toenails.
Morning person?
My son does double duty as my alarm clock. Sleeping in on holidays? Nein, Father! Shane consistently wakes up between 6 and 7 in the morning. I can always tell by the vibrations rocking my house as he thrashes around happily. Seriously. The kid lifts both his feet straight up in the air and then brings them crashing down. It reverberates through our wall so that our neighbor hears it. Where does he get the energy from? And the singing! You'd think my son was in some sort of singing and dance production listening to him through the baby monitor and praying for him to go back to sleep for another fifteen minutes.
A profession that involves kicking
See above post. My mom worries that he's going to break his heels. She tries to put pads or distract him when she's baby-sitting from pounding a hole into whatever he's laying on. So, what do you think? Soccer? Karate?
Cause and effect - (If I....)
Shane is very creative. He likes to try and combine things the he likes. For example, on paper it looks great if you could combine sucking on your fingers with sucking down a bottle. They're both sucking motions! In reality, it works about as well as spitting into hurricane-level winds. The problem is, Shane blames me for all of his failed experiments! He gets darn ornery about it, too. Jumping and eating? Dad!!!! Why isn't the bottle staying in! The most common misconception Shane has is that it's my fault whenever he punches the bottle out of his mouth and that I'm ruining his meal when I prevent him from shoving a few fingers in with the bottle. I wonder how long it'll take him to learn basic cause and effect.
TV Hound
I know that Shane doesn't understand a single word, but he loves the flashing pictures. Especially if they're bright colors like cartoons or they have easy music (like Sesame Street or kid music videos). Is my son going to be a TV addict like my wife?
Reader
On the opposite side of TV hounding, is my son going to be a read-a-holic like all of my brothers and sisters? Shane clearly has favorite books and even favorite pages in books (for some reason, he always gets fussy on the exact same page of The Very Hungry Caterpillar). There are times when he'll be fussing and the only cure is to whip out a board book. Is he going to grow up reading a lot? Is he going to like the same type of books as I do or will he go a different route? (which would be a shame since I have a pretty extensive library of fantasy, sci-fi, and history).
Sports junkie or nerd?
Gross motor skills are where my son excels. He would bounce 12 hours a day if he could chew away on his fingers and toes for the remainder. He'll tire me out just watching him. Also, Shane is very fond of high-energy/quick motions. If I dance around or jump away and hop-back I can get him giggling. Is he going to be 100% into sports like my cousin Kyle and my brother-in-law, Stu?
Or maybe he'll be a total nerd. Carrie and I are pretty far into the geek/nerd spectrum of things. She can instantly recognize any Star Trek movie/episode after a few quotes or hearing a few notes from the composer's opening score. I'm more into computers, board/war games, video games, role-playing....or at least I used to be before I started working full time and then coming home to job #2 as a new father and homeowner. Still, my house is littered with geeky goodies.
Or maybe he'll be somewhere in between. Who knows? I willingly cheer for the Redskins each year even though everyone knows how that usually pans out.
Singer? Chatty Patty?
My child yodels, yells, blows spit halfway across the room, and speaks in some sort of baby-language that excites grandparents and wakes up his parents every morning. I suspect that once he starts talking, it'll take a long time for him to figure out how to shut back up! (I'm crossing my fingers that his first word is either "da-da" or "poo-poo." The first word is a vanity and the second word is....well, it's just awesome and funny. The kid could warn me to tell Carrie its her turn before the scent strikes me down.)
Needy? Small socialite? Loner?
As an only child, Shane gets A LOT of attention. He makes me sing and has his mom wrapped around his finger. Then, when he visits his Nana and Pa they can barely restrain themselves from rushing him out of my arms and playing with him. (On a related note: It's AMAZING having both sets of grandparents close enough to support us. Carrie's parents have a much longer drive, but they've trekked their way up to help before and my mom and dad just took the boy so that Carrie and I could have an afternoon out.) Shane loves seeing new faces and meeting new people. Is he going to be out-going when he's older? Or is he going to be shy around strangers like I was when I started to go to school in Texas?
Liberal or Conservative?
Honestly, I'll love my son either way, but I am curious. All hot-button issues and party politics aside: will my son be more in favor of the government providing services and preventing people from doing stupid things or will he be more of a fan of a smaller government that allows people to make dumb decisions? How'd Winston Churchill say it? "Any man who is under 30 and is not a liberal has no heart and any man who is over 30 and is not conservative has no brains." Will there be an issue that Shane particularly takes to heart? The environment? Supporting/protesting the military? Or will he just take his cue straight from my wife and I?
Will he remember his great-grandparents?
Sadly, I don't remember any of my great-grandparents. I want my son to grow up remembering his family and where he comes from. My hope is to get out and travel around to visit all of my grandparents next year. I want to show my son off and have them involved with my son's life. I pray that they all have good health and stick around at least until Shane is old enough to have some permanent memories of them. I know I don't remember the first house I lived in at all (the first 3 years of my life). The first vivid memories I can recall are from around when I was in preschool and gluing styrofoam bits into the shape of a dinosaur . My kindergarten and 1st grade years have a lot more coherent memories, so that would place me around....five? six? Shane's only at six months right now.
Christian?
This is a huge one for me. Will my son keep the faith? I'm going to raise him going to church and Sunday school. I want to be a spiritual role-model and volunteer my time and energy to be a blessing to those around me in Christ's name. Or will he go some other direction? This is probably my biggest fear for the future. If my son wants to become an artist or a solider, it matters not to me as long as he's becoming the man that he was made to be.
The list goes on and on. I may just come back and update these more later. It's not like I sit down with an outline and really plan out these posts. Heck, I don't even do a full typo scan, so I bet they're gremmar mitsakes evreywhree.
Anyway, that's all for now!
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