Zacharoo update

Let's get caught up with some Zach stories and updates:

To answer the question we get asked the most often, Zach really is doing well with the adjustment. He has moments of neediness, generally directed towards me. That is rather unusual, because typically, if his dad is around, I am more or less invisible to Zach. So to have him want to snuggle me or play with me when Scott is right there... not too hard to figure out what that is about. He also tends to have these "needy moments" right when I am feeding Charlie - again, fairly obvious what is going on in his mind. But I've gotten much better at multi-tasking - doing things like reading books, playing go fish, etc, while making sure Charlie gets fed too.

Zach is fascinated with Charlie. His fascination comes in what I would describe as bursts - short, intense, and frequent. He often wants to look at Charlie's eyes, and of course likes to stick his face as close to Charlie's as he possibly can when he's studying him. He is generous with his hugs and kisses too. We've had to give some specifics as to what "be gentle" means - where it's ok to touch, how it's ok to touch, etc. He hasn't shown any animosity towards his brother (yet?), and we haven't heard the dreaded "take him back" yet either!

But here is a story to illustrate exactly where Charlie ranks with Zach. We had left one of Zach's cars - a character named Sally - at my parents' house the last time we were there. They were unable to find her when they came a couple weeks ago, so my dad ended up going to three different stores before he was able to find the elusive Sally. Zach loved the story of how grandpa searched and searched, and was thrilled to have the new Sally. So a few days after Charlie was born, Zach was outside playing cars in the driveway. Our neighbor, who I had emailed with the news of Charlie's birth, came home and called out "Zach - I heard you have someone new at your house!" Zach's response? An enthusiastic yes, as he held up... Sally.

Zach has also figured out that Grandpa is a big teaser, and spent much of the week my parents were here practicing his own teasing skills on Grandpa. Our favorite was when he said, out of the blue - Grandpa, you don't go to work OR go curling. All you do is just sleep all day and sleep all night!

As I know I've mentioned before, Zach is a pretty laid-back and flexible kid. But I'm starting to notice that while he's not overtly strong-willed, in the sense that if he knows we want him to do something he'll resist just to prove he can, he definitely decides when it's time for him to accomplish something. A perfect example was potty-training; he'd been going to the bathroom at our prompting for quite a while, and then one day decided he was ready, and that was it - he would let us know every time he had to go, no accidents.

A more recent example has been swimming. Scott has been taking Zach to the pool at the Y all winter, playing in the water but trying to teach him to swim at the same time. Scott made some progress - we could put two fun noodles under his arms and he'd swim around independently. But the last time I was in a pool with Zach was in early March, at Scott's birthday party. Zach clung to me for dear life, and wouldn't jump off the side of the pool unless we were holding both of his hands - he didn't trust us to catch him. So imagine my surprise when Scott came home from the Y a few weeks later and said Zach swam by himself! He apparently decided he was ready, and suddenly was not only swimming by himself, but jumping off the edge, swimming back to the surface, and then swimming to Scott. Since then Scott estimates he's swum (swam?) as much as 11 yards by himself. I wish we could show you video or pictures, but unfortunately our Y has strict privacy rules... I guess some adults don't want their picture taken in their swimming suits! Hopefully he'll remember how to swim and we'll be able to capture his skills this summer.

Another example of Zach's independence has turned out to be really helpful now. When he first mastered potty-training, we were doing just about everything for him, as far as pulling his pants down, putting him on the toilet, etc etc. Well... we started taking small steps to get him to do parts of the process on his own, and sure enough, one day he suddenly insisted he could do it himself, and would I please stay out in the hall until he needed help (unfortunately our faucets are not kid-friendly; he isn't strong enough to turn the water on himself)? This boy will do things at his own pace, that's for sure!

In other Zach news, he went to the dentist for the first time last week (I was not about to reschedule... we had to wait 3 months to get in with the highly-recommended, in-demand pediatric dentist in town!). I was so proud of him. He hesitated a little when asked to get in the chair, but otherwise showed no fear. The hygienist did a fantastic job, showing him each instrument (i.e "Mr. Thirsty, Mr. Squirty, etc) before she used it, letting him touch everything, etc. He asked lots of questions, and when we left told the dentist himself that he'd come back. :) We did learn, not surprisingly, that his thumb-sucking has done some damage to his teeth - when he was lying back in the chair I could clearly see, for the first time, that his front teeth definitely angle outwards. This apparently is not a big concern; it will self-correct when he stops sucking his thumb, and his permanent teeth won't be affected. But I was surprised to learn that the teeth on his upper jaw have shifted inwards due to the pressure of the sucking, resulting in his top teeth not aligning with his bottom teeth when he closes his mouth. So there may be some orthodontics in this kid's future. Although I think he was headed that way anyway, based on his genetics!

I also have noticed something lately that has made me feel good, and proud of my son. We've emphasized manners pretty hard with Zach, and I've been delighted to see lately that it's sinking in. Several times we've had someone hold open doors for us lately (seems to happen more often when you have a stroller and a preschooler with you!), and Zach, completely unprompted, has said "thank you" to them as he goes through the door. It absolutely warms my heart, especially when you see the look of surprise and amazement on the person's face. They clearly don't expect someone Zach's age to thank them for holding a door open for him!