Sunday, May 3, 2009

Baby boy is growing up :(



I cannot believe that in a few short weeks my little Zander baby will be turning 3. I cannot believe that 3 years have gone by, but at the same time we cannot imagine my life without the little guy (Ok, my husband CAN but would still choose to have him around than to go back to the glorious life we used to lead with more one on one time than most couples get in a lifetime!) I really cannot believe that it his been a year since we almost lost him. Only a few days after his 2nd birthday he ingested crystal meth at his babysitters house and spent 3 days in very shaky condition in the hospital. This has given me a deep emotional scar about leaving him with anyone other than me ever. I have recently been able to leave him with his dad (that is how bad I have been, I seriously had to be by him every minute of every day!) Only last month was I able to leave him with my in laws for a few hours. I have not left him with a babysitter or daycare since it happened. That means that for an entire year Zander and I have been together virtually nonstop, every day all day.... I have 2 things to say about that: #1 I love the bond we have developed and the time I have been able to spend with him, and #2 I need a break!!




Zander is a fabulous kid, really. He is fun, he gets humor that most 5 year olds would not understand. He is smart, he can count to 15, sing the ABC's, and actually think things through and act accordingly.... that is great! Unfortunately this means he is also smart enough to do things like hide when it is time for jammies... all I have to do is walk in the direction of his clothes at night, and he disappears! He talks nonstop, in full sentences, and you can understand just about everything he says. His new favorite thing to do is to find some stranger sitting alone at the Dr's office (because between Adam and I we are at 1 of those every few days) and he will go and sit in a chair by this chosen person. He will sit quietly for a minute, but the second he gets a look from this person, he perks up with "hi, my names Zander, I'm two!" That is usually followed by a brief family history about his "friend mama" his daddy, Sissy, Dylan, Aidan, and Aiden Tanner. The he starts in on the questions. His favorite are people with babies, he will ask everything from "what is that white in your babies juice?" (Juice=bottle to him) to why are his feet so tiny?




He decided not too long ago that he was done with diapers, and he just was. I never worked on potty training him, he just did it. In fact I had decided not to worry about it until we moved, but he had other plans. For a while he went around with no pants on, but quickly moved to undies... he skipped ever really needing pull-ups, but I do put them on him if he goes out without me, just in case. Ever since he made this decision he has not had a single poopy accident (phew!) and very few pee accidents (most of which are caused by trying to aim for something unreasonable!)


The bad part of this is that no matter what I do he yells that he has to stop and pee anytime we are on a deserted part of any road... I think its a scam! (He does love to pee outside.... wonder who he gets that from!)




Adam and Zander have become great buds, which is something that I have wished for for about 3 years now. They love to take walks together, or just snuggle. Zander will even lay there and watch golf on TV if it means he can snuggle daddy! He lights up when anyone in the family get home, and even if they were only in the driveway they are usually greeted by a huge running hug and Zander yelling "I'm so glad your home!" It is pretty dang hard to not feel great about yourself with that reaction!




He has requested a Dora theme for his birthday party..... his brothers will not be very amused I am sure.... but I thought I could at least give him the cake. I am hoping that we have a kitchen by the time we celebrate his birthday, because I thought it would be great fun to do a big upright picture of Dora and Boots, and make the map and "pack-pack" out of cake. I am not a cake goddess like The mother of my stepkids, Jenna, but with Lyndsays help we made some pretty cool nemo and dory cakes last year :) We will save his party for when we can be with all of his siblings at once, because that's how he likes things, and also any party is more fun with my stepkids around!

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