Perpetual Motion G-man
One thing we learned from the very beginning: the G-man rarely stops moving.
He was a fidgety baby, always grabbing something, kicking, squirming, forever waving his arm in the air. I feel it's one reason he didn't nap; he was too busy being busy. I was almost a bit concerned about it. I mean, what kind of little one never relaxed? He was so go, go, go all the time. He even kept his bones and muscles ready for action, refusing to sit down and bend at the waist if given an opportunity stretch out. He wouldn't fold into the baby sling, sit for music class (before he could stand, he simply arched and made me hold him up so he could move around at will) or quietly contemplate his mobile.
In order to fall asleep, he needed a lot of movement, from both himself and us. He flailed around for a bit and we had to rock, swing and sway him. A LOT. Not a gentle movement but a full-on aerobic workout. If he fell asleep and we slowed our rhythm or shortened our swing, whoops! He woke up. Violent motion, eyes closed. Gentle sway, eyes open. Put him down? Forget about it.
On the rare times he fell asleep in the car, it was on the highway or after a long stretch at a fairly constant rate. Slow down to turn, stop for a traffic light, pull into a parking spot? Waaah! It was like being in the movie Speed. "I'm sorry officer, if I slowed down to 35, the baby would wake up. We. Do. Not. Wake. The. Baby."
I thought it was all a phase, but as I've been trying to teach him to sit still, I see he's more active than ever. He kicks, jumps, knocks around (for fun) in his crib to fall asleep. He cannot sit for more than 4 seconds, even during an activity he likes. I've never seen someone turn doing sticker books, coloring or watching TV into a cardio workout.
G-man is constantly climbing on me (despite my lesson "Mommy is not a playground"), even if it's during supposedly quiet storytime. His arms continue to flail and squirm with his heartbeat. He bounces when he eats. He's always reaching out to grab my hair or his hair or whatever he can reach. He must always be squeezing my thumb or patting something as I try to get him to nap. My toes are black and blue from him trying to balance on them while he has snack. I have a perpetual swollen lip as he shoots up into me from my lap. He lunges, goes noodle-like or pops out without any advance warning. Fidget, fidget, FIDGET!
We have arguments about settling down - I'm for it, he's against it - and battles to do the smallest things because I can't get him to stop long enough to put shoes on, eat an almond, change a diaper. His constant motion leads to falls off the sofa and spills from a bench and the occasional vocal outburst (yet always in my head), "G-man, sit STILL!" But not to a pause in the action.
How someone can be sloth-like yet never fully stopped is a mystery.
I get worn out just thinking about it!
