Three

Three. Three years old. Three years have passed since the Sunday we went to the hospital at 7 AM to be induced. Unbelievable in some ways.

It's been interesting to reflect on how much Zach has changed in those three years, especially knowing in a few more months we'll be starting all over again, and changing Zach's and our lives drastically at the same time.

In the last year alone he has changed so much, become a little person with whom we have real conversations, and truly enjoy as a companion. Obviously the potty-training is a big example of how he's changed. But there are so many others too.

A year ago he rarely played by himself; now he is capable of entertaining himself for long periods of time, zooming his cars all over the house, creating races and conversations between them. And while his love of anything Cars is well-documented, he now has both the attention span and the interest to play games - Candyland, the memory game, Go Fish, dominoes, and Uno are current favorites. I'm still amazed that he is capable of understanding the game of Uno (we've moved on to the real rules now), even some of the basic strategy. And with those games comes the struggle to learn how to lose gracefully, a challenge I suspect we'll be working on for quite a while.

His energy level has changed dramatically; sitting still is obviously much more difficult than it has ever been. And you can see it in how his body has changed; any trace of baby fat is long gone. He's a lean mean machine these days. And that's because if given the chance, this boy wants to RUN! I still wonder how much that has to do with his lingering thrill in his ability to run after his broken leg, but I guess we'll never know. He hasn't lost his love for anything involving a ball, but he is also always up for a foot race or game of chase. And when Zach is "sitting" to play a game or something, he is not still; he's always hopping from foot to foot, wiggling an arm or leg, crawling around the board etc. Fidgeting!

In the rare moments he is sitting relatively still, his mouth is going at 100 mph. He truly is a chatterbox. And the things that come out of his mouth... I just hope I've captured some of the funnier ones on this blog so we can remind him of them at his college graduation or wedding. :) He is curious about everything, constantly asking why and "who's that?" He's always had a love of numbers and letters, which is now beginning to translate into basic word recognition and math-related questions - what's 2 plus 1? (Then he gets silly: yesterday he was asking me things like "what's mommy plus grapes?") He's starting to wonder about time, constantly asking me how long it will take us to get somewhere, or how many more minutes until I'm done cooking dinner. We have a calendar on the fridge to help him understand the bigger passages of time, which comes in handy when he's looking forward to something like the arrival of his grandparents or his birthday party.

It's also been interesting to watch how his interactions with kids have changed. He still plays best with older kids, but he's beginning to figure out what to do with kids his own age. Unfortunately, he generally expects others to play the same way he does, and gets very upset when they don't comply (ie Isak isn't playing cars the way I want him to!). Practice makes perfect I guess, as he's starting to learn that not everyone in the world is going to do as he says or wants! His nature is still fairly gentle, but he is showing more signs of aggressiveness - learning to love to tackle, grabbing friends by the arm to make them run faster with him, etc.

Our boy continues to be as outgoing as he has always been. He considers everyone a friend - adults, other kids, whoever. He will speak to just about anyone, with only rare moments of shyness. He has started asking other kids their names when out in public, which catches many of them by surprise. It also leaves us to try to explain to him why they didn't answer or walked away. So much for him to learn!

I mentioned earlier that my dad had sent us an hour-long video of Zach, from when he first began walking at 10 months, through our Thanksgiving together this last year. Don't worry, I won't post the whole thing, but I thought perhaps you'd enjoy this little "preview" he also sent us. I confess it made me weepy. There are so many little things I've forgotten - like exactly how chubby his little legs were when he first started wobbling around on them. And how he talked almost nonstop long before we could understand what he was saying. And the absolutely adorable way he used to say "ohhh-kay" instead of "yes". And that his laugh back before he even turned one sounds exactly like it sounds today.

My favorite thing that Zach started doing in the last year? That's easy - it's his own special way of declaring his feelings. He says "Mama/Daddy, you know what?... I love you." Well, you know what? We love you too buddy, and we cannot wait to see what adventures and special moments you experience in your fourth year. Happy third birthday!