Ups and Downs

When I picked Caleb up from Carrie's yesterday, she said that she was worried about him. She said that (once again), he just wasn't himself today. He woke up from his nap crying like he was in pain. The only word I can think of to describe what I'm seeing in him is deflated. He's just not the happy-go-lucky, cheerful, laughing little boy that I'm used to. He was very blah all the way home. When we got to the house, I took him upstairs to change his clothes for our evening plans and he started crying hysterically. He cried for at least 30 minutes (maybe even more). This was the sort of crying that scares me. He was sobbing when I was holding him and screaming when I put him down. I finally calmed him by turning on his favorite video long enough for me to pack his diaper bag and his dinner. As soon as I got it all packed, I went out to put him in the car. When we got outside, I saw that Jen and her boys were playing in the driveway, so we went over there to say hi. Shortly after we showed up, two other neighbors came over with their one-year-old boys. I was very concerned about Caleb. In the past, he has loved being with other kids. Yesterday, it was like he didn't even know they were there. He never acknowledged them with a point or a stare or anything. He just kept crawling away. I would bring him back to the group and he would crawl off into the grass. It broke my heart.

When everyone went in for dinner, I put Caleb in the car and we went to the Teddy Bear Picnic at the Parkway Early Childhood Center. Our house was being shown, so we couldn't go home and I had already registered for the event, so we went. When we got there, I thought Caleb would love seeing all of the other kids, but he didn't really seem to care. He brightened my mood by "dancing" to the music while he ate his dinner, but that was the only spark that I saw in him the whole time. He didn't want anything to do with all of those other kids.

We went home at about 6:30 and met Rudy there. Caleb played some and then it was time for him to go to bed. He went down to bed without a fight and didn't wake up until almost 7:00 this morning. Hopefully, I'll get a good report this afternoon when I pick him up.