Birthday Week: What a Difference a Year Makes

I remember last year at this time my sister in law, who has  a son that is a year older than Zane, telling me, as her son got himself ready to go outside, "next year he will be able to put his shoes on." I remember initially thinking that that probably wasn't true, not sure why I under estimate my son, and secondly hoping that was true because that small act could make a world of difference in my life. In that moment a year felt a world away. I was going to have another child and couldn't yet envision how our routine would go when another person was added to the mix.

Well time flew by and here we are a year later. Zane can indeed put all different types of shoes on without any problem and it has made a world of difference in the getting out of the house routine. That is just the tip of the iceberg as far as all the things he has learned how to do this year. I took a peek back at last year's birthday week so I couldn't fully appreciate just how far we have come. Last year he could get his pants off, but not on, he couldn't take off or put on his shirt or shoes. These are all things he does with ease now, picking out his own clothes, getting dressed, and putting his shoes on, multiple times a day. He is surprisingly good at getting his shoes on the correct feet, though there are the occasional moments when he has to switch them, but does that without assistance as well. With his new independence came a few necessary tweaks to his wardrobe. The pollo shirts, that are so cute, had to go since they were never being choosen, and they have been replaced by Toy Story, super hero, dinosaur, and other boyish themed t-shirts. His outfits rarely match, but he is in charge of getting dressed and that isn't a battle I'm choosing to fight. Also gone are the cute shorts with buttons/snaps and unnecessary belt loops, replaced with elastic banded pants/shorts that are easily pulled up and down for potty time, so as not to need our assistance.

He still is a great lover of hats!

This leads me to probably the biggest achievement of the past year, successful potty training. In my head the goal was always potty trained by three and we made it, barely. We started the year with this not even on the radar. Slowly he started wanting to poop on the potty, not prompted by us, just started doing it. This went on for months until he rarely pooped in his diaper, and we so we thought he was "ready" for the transition. Somehow the whole thing ended with huge fights over pooping his pants, which is still confusing and infuriating, but it's in the past and I'm quickly trying to block the whole thing out of my memory. He has an occasional accident, but I feel confident in saying he is potty trained, where as a month or two ago I wasn't confident in that at all. Hooray little man!!!!

This year his vocabulary and speech have flourished, going from a little boy with quite a few words and a couple sentences, to a big boy who can ramble on for hours, about everything and nothing. You can understand about 95% of what he his saying, though the train of thought isn't always pulled together. He tells stories, remembers things, has opinions, and has all the words necessary to express his wide range of thoughts and emotions. His inflections are spot on and he has all the appropriate facial expressions to match, too funny! I love hearing him tell stories, both true and make believe. He is a box of questions, upon questions, wrapped in another question. Sometimes this is fun, but sometimes it can get trying.  He has learned an exorbitant amount this past year, pretty mind blowing when I sit back to think about it.

This year he moved into a big boy room, with a new big boy bed. It's hard to believe we started the year in his toddler bed. He has grown so much I don't think he would fit in that at all now. The transition to big boy room went amazingly well. He adores his room and all the big boy things in it, his happy moon, his rocket night light, his stars, his hat wrack, the pictures he painted that are framed on the wall, and his shelves full of big boy toys. He still has to sleep with the guard on his bed. We have tried three times taking it off, all on his request, but he has promptly fallen out of bed each time. We started the year with a pacifier, but around Christmas the Binki fairy came and two days later it was forgotten. He still sleeps in pull-ups, but this is mainly due to the fact that he is a terrible sleeper and in an effort to keep him from asking for milk in the night he goes to sleep with a sippy cup. I think without that he would be fine at night. Naps are taken in his big boy undies just fine. Sleeping in general is much better (knock on huge quantities of wood). The long screaming fits for no reason, where he won't talk to us, but is obviously awake are a rarity, though his nightmares still happen as dos the waking up and asking for random things he doesn't need. But overall, much improved after lots and lots of work on this front over the past year. (The fact that in his three year update I'm talking about his ability or lack there of to sleep through the night makes my head explode, just a P.S.)

His little boy body and face have been replaced with a brave, tall, independent big boy. He can climb up and on everything at the park, unassisted. He eats like a crazy person, but would rather snack than eat a meal, who wouldn't really. He can get most of his snacks by  himself now, just another way he likes to show his independence. He can follow multiple step instructions, going to get things for me, taking things to different places, and all sorts of other things. This has been a huge help since baby brother joined us. Zane loves "being in charge" of things, so he has been put in charge of picking up his dirty clothes in his room, cleaning up his toys, and taking sippy cups and bottles to the sink, among other things. He relishes his responsibilities and usually takes them quite seriously.

He can count to fifteen consistently and twenty with some help, he knows the words to tons of songs, both kid and otherwise, knows all his colors, most of his shapes, all sorts of animals, and so many other things. We are starting to work on learning our letters, recognizing them, not really their sounds. He knows his ABC song, but I think we are just now putting together that what he is singing about are really letters. He has started putting together the whole number thing more recently too, not just knowing the order they go in, but understanding simple things like two and one is three. I love watching his little brain work, like when he, in three year old speak, describes how a plane work, so funny and quite impressive as well.

And that is the recap of this year, with major aspects left out, like learning how to share his parents with his another person, learning how to be gentle ( a work in progress) and so much more. It has been a year full of lots and lots of changes. Many sticker charts and lots of rewards, but also a lot of frustrating days and nights for everyone. Growing up is hard. Learning that mommy and daddy are actually in charge isn't easy. You can't throw fits, you can't hit your brother, you must talk nice, you can't whine, you can't scream in the house, you can't jump on the furniture, mommy can't hold you and brother. So many rules that are to be learned, when none of it really makes since. All and all I'm beyond proud of how we have all handled this year of change. He is amazingly well behaved, not without three year old moments, but he knows what he is and isn't suppose to do, and does the right thing for the most part. He is polite, kind, and oh so loving. I think he is growing into quite the wonderful big boy if I do say so myself.