The New Game

Today I played a new game with my son.  It is easy to get into a pattern of play with him, but, unfortunately for Christian, this pattern is usually not beneficial to him.  It is sometimes easy to forget that he is a two and a half year old, and he often gets treated more like an infant, because of his physical limitations.  Today we played like he had no limitations, and he surpassed my expectations.  It made me question everything.

We played a very simple game.  Christian knelt against the arm of the couch, and pretended to sleep.  Then he would pop up, yell “I’m awake!” and I would act surprised.  This is a very simple game, I know.  And one many people might think any two year old would play, so why make a big deal of it?  The big deal is that Christian has never played a game with me in which he had so much control over his own body.

For Christian to sit in a kneeling position prolongedly, is a big deal.  For him to push up from leaning on the couch in this position, to kneeling while holding all his weight on two straight arms, is a very big deal.  He did that over, and over again, all while smiling and laughing.  And he did it without ever noticing that he was working as hard as I have ever seen him work at anything.  In fact, the part of the game that he had the most trouble with, was closing his eyes while he was pretending to sleep, because he was having so much fun.

I had an incredible time playing with my son on the couch today.  It filled me with joy, and also made me question everything I have previously thought about him.  I think I push him, but do I really?  Do I have a preconceived notion of what he is capable of?  Am I holding him back by helping him at a pace he is ready to move past?  These are important, but dangerous questions.  There is a fine line between motivating Christian, and setting him up for failure.  But I don’t want to sell him short, either.  Today I saw a glimpse of strength that I didn’t know was there.  I think the important thing is not to focus on if I have been holing him back from that strength, but on how to find more of it.  No matter what, my son is incredible, and his beauty will never cease to amaze me.