Three Years…
September 20, 2009
Three years ago today I was admitted to the hospital at 4am. Zach and I had no idea what was in store for us that day. After a long, long day at 6:39pm, we finally met our first born son, Xander. You can read the gory details here if you’re interested. Since then we have been equal parts amazed, entertained, proud, and exasperated by our son.
Xander has the ability to make us laugh until we cry. While he can’t recite many traditional songs, he makes them up on the fly and even gives them titles. Recently he has offered to sing at Zach’s meetings (I personally think that would be the high point for some of them). Xander loves chocolate milk. We compromise by giving him Ovaltine in milk (less sugar and more vitamins). He hates to go to sleep, but also doesn’t really like waking up – it sometimes takes him 30 minutes or so to be ready to rejoin the conscious world. Xander loves all things “boy” – tractors, trucks, cars, balls, bats, swords, pirates. Although he embraces his maleness, he can also be very sensitive – he worries about monsters and bad guys. His feelings get hurt if one of his friends picks on him or takes a toy he wants, and he hasn’t quite figured out how to handle those feelings yet.
My boy loves anything pasta related. He loves carrots, but refuses to eat any other vegetables. He does not like pizza. He loves strawberries. You and watch a video of him reading about a strawberry here. In the past year or so he has discovered the wonders of sweets and now like any typical kid, would much prefer to eat cookies and candy as a meal (though he has yet to convince his parents of the benefits of this dietary decision).
Xander has outgrown the Curious George television show, but still sleeps with two Curious George stuffed animals at night. He still laughs at Little Einsteins, and continues to enjoy an occasional Phineas and Ferb. His favorite movie at the moment is Iron Giant. My boy loves everything in his world to match – he wants his underwear to match his shirt, which should match his socks and shoes, and his little brother should have the exact same outfit. His favorite color is orange. He also likes to match his parents, which can be challenging…. There are many days that he will refuse to wear this jacket or that sweatshirt because Parker does not have a matching one. Since I’m a fan of individuality, I haven’t really sought out many matching outfits for my son, so this can at times prove to be a challenge.
Xander can count to 11. He knows his shapes and colors and most of his letters (though his recitation of the alphabet is still missing a few.. and he is certain that l-m-n-o is one letter…). He has thought and reasoning that has at times stunned us. (Mama, can we go to the park? No, it’s dark and time for bed. Mama, can we go in the morning? No, we have work and school. Mama, how about we go to the park first, and then to work and school?). He is good with direction, and often can identify where we are going well before we get there (this way to my school, this way to Nana’s house, etc.). There are times when his memory astounds us. On Wednesday this week he mentioned the monkey that my former boss, JoAnn gave him back in January after Parker was born – and remembered JoAnn’s name, and the fact that she carried his presents in a basket.
Although he’s inconsistent, he can regularly get a ball into a full-size basketball hoop (and often complains that his toddler sized hoop is too short) and can sometimes hit a ball with a bat (and never seems to tire of that game…) Xander recently learned how to “pump” on a swing. He isn’t great at it yet, but he can make himself move back and forth. He can jump from a moving wagon and land on his feet (yes, he is terrifying). My boy frequently makes friends and family nervous with his antics (so much so that someone often volunteers to “spot” him) but his father and I have developed an immunity to many of his antics.
“They” say that three is harder than two. We have certainly encountered some more challenging power struggles lately, but all-in-all we have somehow managed to produce one amazing kid. People sometimes tell us what a great kid we have, and we say thank you but in the back of my head I’m thinking that I shouldn’t really be taking the credit – I think most of Xander’s amazingness comes from him, and not from any outside influences. Our amazing kid is three years old today, and I can’t wait to see what is in store for us next! Happy Birthday son.
Yesterday was Xander’s first day in the Purple Room. We were all so excited about this change – new and exciting challenges, etc. So last night, Zach went grocery shopping as he does every Monday night. Xander and I watched about 20 minutes of a movie (while I read a book to Parker – gotta love multi-tasking!) Then when I took Parker to the kitchen to feed him dinner, Xander followed us. I was busy trying to convince Parker to open his mouth, and not paying super close attention to Xander bopping around in the kitchen. He was sort of babbling to himself (more on that in another post). But then Xander said something that caught my attention. I stopped, turned and listened more closely. Then I thought to myself, ‘nah, that can’t be what he said’, so I said Xander, what did you say? He turned to me with a smile on his face, and said as casually as you would say lamp, “fuckin” to which I responded, “say that again please?” and he repeated it again. My two year old son dropped the f-bomb (twice) and thought it was perfectly normal.