This week my son sunk into the couch beside me looking intensely at a plain album cover on our TV screen. He longed to return to a normal I didn't know existed.

The kid acted like he lost his best friend or faced rejection for the first time. I was sitting next to him, confused.

I've had seasons of sadness and even depression. But to see glimpses of it in an infant shook me to my core.

It took me a while to piece together a why.

1. Grandma went home after being with us for a couple of weeks.
2. He's transitioning to more solid foods.
3. Mom and Dad's work schedule changed and our time with him got shorter.

These are things, as adults, we take in stride. But for my son, this was a big part of his life that changed in the blink of an eye.

He didn't know why
He couldn't say what

At that moment I saw defeat in a 1-year-old. And that was heavy.

As we sat down on the couch together, he was primed and ready to veg out to Netflix (If it was available) At that moment it would've been easy for us to watch TV together to pass the time. I have a feeling that happens a lot with parents and kids.

So once I pieced together the problem. I picked the kid up and we started doing a few things to help lift his spirits that didn't involve binge-watching the Disney Channel.

Escape into a good book

My son likes books, but we needed to go a bit further.

So we acted out as many scenes as possible. They were the same words he's used to, but we created a new world that he could understand.

In many ways, this is what we do when we binge-watch Netflix.

We escape into a fantasy where we can witness a new world, and even imagine what we would do in this world.

It's a good way to take your mind off of things.

And in the end, it demands nothing from us outside of our time.

Embrace the Outdoors

As I'm writing it's winter where we are. It may seem hard to dress him up in 30 layers of clothes and take him out. But the idea is to keep his spirits up. He just learned to walk but he doesn't have much experience doing it outside.

It worked.

He is very much a toddler who runs with reckless abandon when possible. In addition, he will turn up the charm smiling at anyone who crosses his path.

With his new teeth just starting to grow in. He's ready and waiting for opportunities to show it off.

In the outdoors, he's free to roam around and explore his environment. All of this is still very new. And that's the point. As adults, we take it for granted, but remember that for infants the smallest things can blow their minds in wonder.

Eat good food

My son is just now discovering many different experiences now that he can walk and have a few more teeth.

He is now eating solid food, and like his parents before him, spaghetti reigns supreme.

Overall he hasn't tried too many dishes because his teeth are still coming in. But I fed him what we had and spiced up things where I could.

Added cinnamon to his applesauce.

Extra sauce on the spaghetti.

More Mommy and Daddy time during the meal.

Thankfully, his food stays in the tray. I know the day will come when some food will become projectiles but until then, he enjoys a good meal.

Bonus Tip: Give it time

All of these tips can be taken to the extreme and I get that. I don't recommend doing all of these tips, at once, whenever you think something is wrong.

Rather than veg out to TV. As adults, we can teach kids how to:

Escape in a good book
Eat a good meal
Explore new sights

But we can go overboard and accidentally teach them how to run from hard things.

Be mindful of that if you find yourself cheering your kid up for a prolonged period.

And the last thing I would say is to just give it time.

If you start noticing physical or behavioral changes that worry you. Talk to your pediatrician to get some tips.

As time goes on, I hope my kid will learn how to not only be happy but stay happy when things get him down. As parents, we can help with that process. But we can't solve it for them. Much of that, they have to work out.

That's part of growing up.