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!

Underwear

TMI Warning: if you are not a grandparent or a parent who has recently, is currently, or will soon be potty-training your child, this post is likely too much information for you.

Days in "big boy" underwear: 3
Number of accidents: 0!!!

^ Our little (Cars) underwear model

Zach has been amazing; clearly the proverbial lightbulb in his head has gone on. He only wears a diaper at night, which he uses at some point, but then can hold his first morning pee until we get him out of bed and to the potty. I was a little worried about #2, since some kids have problems with that, but so far so good. We could have skipped the week of pull-ups entirely! Now we just have to figure out how to wean away from the M&M rewards that he currently receives for #2s and staying dry over his nap.

We've had some funny moments along the way, not even counting all the goofy nonstop chatter Zach spouts when we're in a public bathroom (like the cheering I now receive when it's my turn: "Mama! You're going potty! Yay!!). One of the surprises has been that Zach has decided he likes using the big toilet - no insert needed. Originally we had this highly-padded comfortable-looking insert, since I thought who wouldn't want more cushiness while sitting on the toilet? But we discovered fairly quickly that particular insert was not well-designed for a boy... I'll leave it at that. So I went out and got him a less-padded seat, but one with a Cars theme on it (you're surprised, aren't you?). Well, after using it once or twice, Zach started telling us he just wanted to sit on the "big" toilet. Which is crazy to me, because of the way he sits...

We learned fairly quickly that the most splash-proof method was to have Zach lean forward as much as possible when peeing. That has evolved into him sitting practically straddling the toilet, with his legs spread as far as possible, holding on to the front of the seat. At one point, while sitting like this, he looked up at me and said "this is exercise for my butt!" I would think so - it looks horribly uncomfortable! But that's what he prefers over the Cars seat that he could just comfortably sit on... and it's working, so I'm not saying a word. It also makes using public toilets easier (although very gross, watching him hanging on to the front of the seat) since he's already used to a regular toilet. So needless to say, we're thrilled. And hopeful that he's conquered this far enough in advance that we can avoid any back-sliding when the baby is born.

But I do have to say, there are things I already miss about the old days. Diapers are darn convenient, as I learned today when I had to get Zach out of his carseat right after I put him in, so we could go back into Sams and rush across the store to the bathroom (we made it - whew).

I also miss the way we used to wake up in the morning. Before we would wake to him calling out in a happy, sing-song voice: maaahhhh-my, daaahhh-dy, the sun is on and it's time to get me out of my bed! Now we are shocked out of sleep by a panicked-sounding "Mommy! Daddy! I have to go potty!" It's an adrenaline rush every morning, which is not my favorite way to wake up. And then to hear that call at 3:37 AM this morning... ugh. I know I should be happy he's starting to wake us up when he has to go in the middle of the night, but knowing there are many sleepless nights in our not-too-distant future, I wouldn't have minded him using the diaper at night for a while. It'll be interesting to see if this continues, or if it was a one-time thing. And I honestly don't know which one to hope for!

9 Random Things

1. My sister-in-law Mandy recently blogged about our Christmas together in Montana. And I had to laugh, because she verified something I've been suspecting: that no one can really understand how much Zach wants to play cars until they've spent significant time with him. And after 6 days with Zach, Mandy, the mother of two school-aged girls, expressed her amazement at how much more obsessed he is with cars than her girls have ever been with anything. So it seems appropriate to include a picture of Zach wearing his new Lightning McQueen sweatshirt from G&G Willard, while playing a game of Cars dominoes.

2. Yesterday the temperature reached a whopping 30 degrees, so we decided to take advantage of the heat wave. We got all bundled up and waddled outside. I was full of enthusiasm - what do you want to do? Build a snowman? Go for a ride on the sled (which Zach calls a "sleigh"... hee hee)? Throw snowballs? Guess what Zach wanted to do? Don't overthink this one... go with the obvious. Yes, we played cars. Rather than romping through the snow, we remained on the dry driveway and played something we played in the summer, in the fall, and that we can just as easily play indoors. Oh well. He did have great rosy cheeks by the time it got dark!

3. Our little mimic is getting quite good; at times a little too good. I've mentioned before that I've learned to be careful what I say while driving; that boy is paying a lot of attention even if it may not seem like it! My general response to other drivers is to speak to them as if they were in the car with us; not necessarily swearing or even saying anything particularly negative, but it's something Zach has shown me I do without even realizing it. One day, Zach asked me why I said what I had said, and I did my best to explain it to him. And to Scott's great amusement, I heard it repeated back to me a couple days later: "Pay attention boys. Mama, I told them to pay attention because they were driving crazy. They weren't driving the way I wanted them to."

4. I also often hear my parenting efforts repeated back to me. I've been trying to help him consider the best way to handle a situation when two people want to do different things; say one wants to play Uno and the other wants to play dominoes. Recently I asked Zach to put his coat on, and he wanted to do something else... play cars, I would guess. So he stopped and said: mama, you want me to put my coat on, and I want to play cars. What are we going to do about that???

5. One of Zach's new favorite phrases? Darn tootin'! Guess who taught him that one? He finds endless opportunities to use it... do you like Lightning McQueen? Darn tootin! Do you have a Sammy the Sloth (while playing Diego Go Fish)? Darn tootin! Is it funny to hear out of the mouth of a not-quite three-year-old? Darn tootin!

6. We go to the library weekly to get new books and movies. And without fail, every week Zach picks out two or three of the new books as favorites, and we read them over and over again. A recent fave is a Dr. Seuss book that asks you profound questions like whether you'd rather have 6 legs or 164. I suspect this book is why Zach recently told me that he'd rather be a dog. If he was a dog, he'd say woof woof. But he'd have hands. And he'd be pink and blue. I, on the other hand, would be a green cat. There was no mention of hands for me though.

7. Zach has always assumed that any adult who comes into our home is a great friend who has come to play with him. So when a gentleman arrived to measure our upstairs for our new carpet (yippee!), Zach wanted to know if he could ask him if he wanted to see his toys. I tried to explain that he was working, just like when daddy goes to work he is there to do his job, not to play, but when the guy came back downstairs, you can imagine what came next. Fortunately the smoky, shaggy young guy played along for a few minutes. And after Zach watched him drive away in his purple mini-cooper, I expected a comment on the unusual car. Instead, he said Mama - he had a cool beard.

8. And speaking of carpet, I'm reminded of another Zach quirk, which I can't remember if I've blogged about before, and am too lazy to look. As the snow began to fall, and then get dirty and slushy, Zach has expressed his disgust over having snow and slush stuck to his shoes/boots. So now, every time we go somewhere, he asks "will they have a carpet?" Why? He wants to be sure they have a rug he can wipe his feet on when we go in.

9. My dad recently sent us a movie he made of all the video he has shot of Zach. More will be coming on that shortly, but I just had to mention a funny reaction Zach had while watching himself cavort on the tv. At one point little Zach was toddling around in a fuzzy sleeper with a dog and the number 28 on it. Immediately out of current Zach's mouth comes "Look - I'm Adrian Peterson!" For those non-NFL fans out there... #28 is indeed the Vikings star runningback.

A new year

We rang in the new year the way we celebrate many things these days - surrounded by friends and a whole bunch of kids under the age of 5. And trust me, I'm not complaining!

We hosted (the day after we returned from MT... it was a little crazy), with the ambitious goal of getting 7 kids to sleep in our house so their parents could enjoy some adults-only fun and maybe even manage to stay up until midnight. And believe it or not, we were successful!

By 9:30, Zach (almost 3) and Sawyer (coming up on 2) were both snoring away in Zach's room. The Bergum boys, ages 4.5 and nearing 3, had some fun sharing a room before they settled down and were out like lights. Kasey (almost 2) got her own room, while the Tanious brothers were in our room... with little Carter in Scott's closet! It took 4 pack-n-plays, but we got it done.

Then we adults enjoyed some more food and a few games... Catch Phrase is always a popular one; Taboo proved to be a challenge for some at this stage of the night; and we learned that The Newlywed Game is hopelessly outdated. We did learn some interesting things about each other (sorry, what happens at our house stays at our house), but most of the questions just made us laugh. What color slips were the wives wearing under their dresses? What's a slip?

Of course, since 3 of the 6 wives are pregnant (Jenny and the "other" Liz are due a week apart in late June), the night wasn't too crazy. But most of us managed to stay awake to actually watch the ball drop, before the warm snuggly kids were carried out for the cold ride home to their own beds. I can only imagine what our neighbors were thinking as they watched our friends lug their pack-n-plays, bundled sleeping kids, and other necessary kid gear out of our house!

It was a great way to welcome 2010, and we're looking forward to all the fun and changes that the new year will bring all of us!

Photo guide (from top to bottom, left to right):

- Brady and Zach bowling in the basement

- Carter, Nolan (in back) and Kasey checking out Zach's toys

- enjoying the appetizer spread

- Nolan and Carter loving Koskie's bed, as all small kids do

- Zach and Isak playing - what else - cars

- Sawyer trying on the role of big brother by holding Carter

- more food!

While he didn't get to stay up to watch the ball drop, Zach has been ringing in the new year a different (and better) way - by continuing his progress with the old "potty train." We've graduated to pull-ups (they have Lightning McQueen on them... can't beat that), hopefully just an interim stop before we move on to the revered big boy underwear. The two reasons we went with the pull-ups rather than straight to underwear are that Zach has wavering success with staying dry over his nap, and had been having little to no success with going #2 on the toilet. Neither of these is a unique phenomenon, of course, we just need to figure out the best way to handle both and keep our guy motivated!

And what is working so far? Food as reward, of course. He's been getting all sorts of treats - cupcakes, and his favorite - m&ms - when he wakes up from his nap dry and then goes to the bathroom. And today... the lure of "lots" of those yummy colorful chocolate candies worked to get him to poop on the toilet! WHOO HOO! Hopefully we'll be heading to Target soon for the Lightning McQueen underwear he's already picked out!

A challenge

I've been tagged with a challenge! This fun one is called: 'This Picture Has A Story'.

Rules:
*Open your first photo folder
*Scroll down to the 10th picture in your file(if you don't have a 10 pictures go to the next folder that does)
*Post that photo and tell your story behind the photo.
*Tag 5 friends to do the same

I was a little concerned at what I'd find, since I have a tendency to take A LOT of pictures and then not delete the "bad" ones. I also am behind in archiving pictures off my hard drive, so I had no idea what I'd find. But since a few weeks ago I did save some older pictures to cd, this one is actually somewhat recent, from a folder called "4th of July 2009." Here it is, the 10th picture:

If that little cutie isn't familiar to you, her name is Kasey. She's our good friend Matt and Jenny's little girl. She's a year younger than Zach, and it's been great fun to watch the two of them learn to play together the last couple months as they've both gotten a little older. And now both are going to have a baby brother or a sister (Kasey's sibling is going to be a surprise) in early summer! Anyway, this picture was taken at our friends' cabin on the 4th of July, at a moment when Kasey managed to get the ball away from the boys. :)

As far as the last rule, I now challenge: Sarah, Heidi, Jenny R, Liz O, and since they need encouragement to update their blog - the Brodds! You've been tagged - have fun!

55%

22 weeks down... 18 to go!

The afternoon we returned from Montana, I had both my regular check-up and our halfway-mark ultrasound. The doctor's appointment was uneventful, but as always, it's nice to hear the baby's heartbeat. Usually right around 140 bpm, our little guy. Not so nice to hear the weight gain results, but that wasn't particularly surprising, given my holiday eating! :)

The ultrasound, on the other hand, was fun! Scott joined me, so he got to see his second son "live" for the first time. We learned the baby weighs right around 1 lb (+/- 2 oz), and that based on the various measurements they take of bones (his femur is 3 cm long!! that's so tiny!), his due date would be more like May 2 instead of May 9th. Doesn't necessarily mean anything, but interesting information to have. A guy was a little stubborn, he kept his hands, and amazingly, his feet too, up near his face the entire time, no matter how much the technician tried to push him around. :) We got to see various organs: the easy-to-spot four chambers of the heart, the tiny little black spots that apparently were his kidneys, stomach, and liver, and the various lobes of his brain. Amazing what those technicians can identify!

I mentioned to the ultrasound tech that if she spotted a choroid plexus cyst that she could tell us, we wouldn't freak us out (this time) since Zach had one. Click the link if you want details, but a CPC is a completely harmless cyst in a non-functioning part of the brain; however the presence of one can be an indicator for a chromosonal disorder. Even though our previous experience turned out fine, it was still a big relief when she said she didn't see one in Zach's baby brother! Our doctor will review the ultrasound results in the next couple weeks, so we don't have any official news, but it all went well.

Other than being thrilled that everything appears to be in the right place and growing well, I think our other big takeaway from the ultrasound was that this boy does not appear to look just like his brother! We both noticed it right away when we saw his profile; the slope of his nose is much straighter (Zach's kind of turned up at the end), and he doesn't appear to have my indented chin either. We've been trying to prepare ourselves for the idea that just because we're having another boy, it doesn't mean he is going to be a miniature Zach; this is definitely some physical evidence of that. We can't wait to see what he looks like in person!

Guide to ulrasound photos:

- The first image is of the baby's legs (looking quite bow-legged) and feet, as if you were looking from underneath him.

- The second image is in profile, primarily of his face, with some chest and a hand on the right. You can see the shadow of his brain on the far left; his nose pointing upwards in the whiter portion of the image in the center.

Merry Montana

Happy New Year! We've had a pretty busy last two weeks of 2009, so there's lots to catch you up on. I will start with the pictures of some of our adventures in Montana over Christmas, and apologize in advance for the length of this post!

The weather was pretty warm when we first got there, so Zach and Scott ventured outside to use the heavy, wet snow to create some snowdeer (apparently there were plenty of deer antlers for use in decorating snow creations). Zach's favorite, however, was throwing snowballs, preferably at grandpa - they'd developed quite the teasing relationship in just a few days.

We also visited the Museum of the Rockies, a great place to check out dinosaurs and other fun exhibits. Zach, as you can see, is still into his running phase - here he is in motion at the museum. The children's area was a bit hit - balls to throw and dinosaurs to crawl on!

As you may have noticed in the picture of Zach and Scott in the backyard, the view from G&G Willard's home isn't bad. I managed to control myself and not take too many shots of the mountains, but the early morning fog one day, and the sunset another, lured me out into the cold with my camera.

We had a few days of relative quiet with Grandma and Grandpa before Scott's sister Mandy and her family arrived. In addition to the adventures above, Zach took the opportunity to teach his grandparents all about Cars, and did some exploring through the boxes of toys in the basement. Check out Scott's old Oilers helmet!

Zach was delighted to see his cousins, despite the fact that it had been over a year and a half since he last saw them! They had a great time playing together; as I think I already mentioned, Maryn (5) was endlessly patient and willing to play cars when the rest of us claimed exhaustion (yes, and boredom). From Bryn (7) he learned to wrestle, which was hilarious to watch. To this point, whenever he saw friends, usually siblings, wrestle, he'd turn to me with this confused look on his face and say "what are they doing???" Well, he discovered the answer, and often wanted to wrestle long after Bryn was tired of the game.

Zach also learned to play Uno, a game we would never have thought he was ready for, but since then have played many, many times (along with the Cars domino game he got for Xmas from some friends). It's been fun to get into playing real games, instead of the usual imaginary stuff! Bryn also taught him the lyrics to the alternate version of Jingle Bells; you know, the one that involves a certain superhero and his odor...

And then it was Christmas Eve! We split up into the customary kids' table and big kids' table, and ate what was just one of many, many delicious meals.

Once we were all uncomfortably full, we headed for the gift pile. See my last post for details on the kids' varying reactions to the present-opening; needless to say, it was fun chaos. And baby Zill (as we now call him, since Zach has decided HE wants to be Lightning McQueen) got his first Christmas present!

Christmas morning, with the adults decked out in our his-and-hers matching pajamas, the kids opened a few gifts from Santa and checked out the contents of their stockings. Afterwards the men braved the outdoors to create a little sledding opportunity for the kids in the backyard. Then, kids being kids, they decided it would be most fun to play in the snow/ice-filled pool!

After a few more days of yummy meals, movies, card-playing, cars-playing, shopping and relaxing, we had to say goodbye. When Grandpa told Zach that he'd miss him, Zach said: "do you know what I'll really miss? Teasing you!"