z turns 3!

oh man, this little guy.  3 years old!  such a big deal!  i think i figured out why i think it's such a big deal; because this is the age where lots of things happen; weaning from binkie, learning to potty train, going to preschool.  at least, that's how it is for z.  this past year has been interesting for him, too.  i graduated from university last spring, so i've been home with him since then, whereas before, he was going to daycare a few days a week and at my friend's house a couple days a week all last year.  and then of course the biggest thing, the addition of baby sister to the family.  i feel like he actually did pretty well adjusting to having a sibling.

always exploring his world

but this boy, he is just so incredible.  i have never been so challenged in so many ways; emotionally and spiritually, physically too as i try to keep up with this extremely active kiddo.  he keeps me so busy and so on my toes.  i am exhausted by the end of the day and it's because i have to always be on, always thinking and aware of danger and then there's the running around and lifting and all of it, haha.

at the natural history museum in san diego

transitioning from the "terrible twos" (i am not really a fan of that term actually), to the "threenager" stage is interesting.  i mentioned this in a previous post, but it seems like he is having less tantrums, although they are more intense and involve more kicking and perhaps throwing, and there is more great conversations and super sweetness.  i really love listening to him talk about anything, and hear as he figures something out, asking questions and coming up with his own answers.  he negotiates, he argues, he tries to talk us into something, extolling the benefits of whatever he is pushing, haha.  it is great.  he is a good talker.  and then the sweetness.  he is so sweet for a lot of the day right now.  it is so nice.  sometimes he is so agreeable and uses words never uttered before such as "sure" and "ok mama".  he is so sweet with baby sister.  he is so sweet with me sometimes.  one day we were reading one of his books "Dear Zoo" in which the kid writes to the zoo to send them a pet, and the zoo sends something like an elephant or a snake, and it gets sent back because it's too big or scary, etc, and one is a camel and they send the camel back because he is too grumpy.  so then i stopped and asked z if i could send him back if he is too grumpy and he says "sure mama", and then i asked him if he wants to send me back if i'm too grumpy and he says "no mama, you are the best mama in the whooooooooooole world!" and then gave me a huge hug.  ahhhhh! haha, it was so sweet.

i had also mentioned in a previous post about the whywhywhy stage that we are in.  it's funny, but he can definitely out "why" us.  he asks why over and over and over, which is pretty typical of the toddlers at this age, but when i ask him why---why did you do that?  why did that happen?  why is that like that?---he always answers with "because it does", "because i did", "because it is".  haha.  um, ok then.  i mean, what else can i say to that?  haha.

we are working on a few things at this stage, potty training, which has been an on and off thing, weaning him from the binkie for his naps and sleep time.  i think he might be transitioning away from taking naps.  he will start preschool for a couple days a week in the fall.  big changes for this little guy.

Alki beach

i will do an update similar to how i used to do his monthly updates:

-growth: in some 2T and in 3T clothes, we haven't been to his three year old doctor appointment yet, but i'm pretty sure he is still tall for his age.  he looks a lot slimmer to me now than he did, i think it's a combo of picky toddler eating and a growth spurt upward

he loves his leaf blower

-development: has been walking since he was a year, and has pretty much been running around everywhere ever since.  his vocab and comprehension is advanced.  it's pretty amazing, i love talking to him.  he does counting and abc's and stuff, although that kind of happens organically, i don't drill it into him and i don't think it's necessary for him to really learn that stuff until he is in elementary school, but he just picks it up naturally, which i feel like is the best way to learn at this age, naturally though play.  his gross motor skills are getting better (a few months ago he was able to climb up this toddler rock wall thingy that he had a hard time with previously, i always had to help him before, so it's great to see these big accomplishments, and to see how excited he gets), although we are still working on pedaling his tricycle, he is losing his baby fat so he has some muscle definition, haha.  his fine motor skills are really good, and getting better.  i have been working with him on problem solving---a lot of times, he will try something for a second and then say "i just can't do it!", so i try to encourage him and get him to stick with it.  i'd like him to value the importance of the process and not necessarily the outcome.  i want him to be steadfast and not give up easily.  so, this is something we are working on and in the last week or so, there have been a couple of instances where he has persevered and succeeded in his endeavor, and i was so glad that he stuck with it and problem solved.  we'll be working on that some more.  and behavior.  this is a big thing right now. i want him to be polite, i mean, he is for the most part.  but i have noticed a couple of things that he does now that he didn't do before that i feel are rude.  in fact, in the Bahai Faith, it says that the time of preschool age is the time to focus on behavior and not so much learning letters, numbers, how to read, etc.

chomping a carrot from our garden

-personality: still very head strong, likes to laugh and looooves to play, especially outside, is into imaginative play which is so fun to participate in, can argue using logic sometimes haha, has moments of extreme sweetness and an agreeable attitude, he definitely knows what he wants and doesn't want, and will advocate for himself haha, he is a protector of his baby sister, he shares really well with others, he is shy at first but when he warms up he is very social and likes meeting and playing with other kids, he is discerning and doesn't just take something said at face value, in fact a lot of his personality and character traits seem kind of like an inconvenience or challenging for me at this time but when i think about it they will help him in the long run, as a teen and adult i imagine that he will think for himself and not just do something because all of his peers are doing it.  oh, i noticed that he has a little bit of sensory sensitivity; he hates tags on his clothes, he does not like water or wet objects to touch his neck or face (unless he is in the bath), his eyes are very sensitive to light and to the sun, he is very sensitive to smells, he seems to be sensitive to loud noises (except when he is the one making the loud noises), and i read that these can sometimes be indicative of autism or perhaps sensory processing disorder, but i don't know, it could just be because he is a picky preschooler, i will talk to his doctor about it at his appointment, he doesn't seem to have any of the other traits of an autistic child.  oh and he also doesn't transition well from one thing or activity to another unless it's on his terms, so i've learned to warn him that in 10 min we are leaving the park, or in 5 minutes we are having lunch, etc.  i have also learned that it is good to prepare him for whatever we have planned; like, we are going to so and so's house and this is how we respect their house, or we are going to the store and i need you to act like _____ while we are in the store, stuff like that.  also, this kid does not miss a THING!  if something is different with my hair, or if something is added or missing in one of the rooms in our house, or if i have cooked something while he was napping and he smells it, or whatever the heck is different anywhere, he notices it and will ask about it, haha!  oh, and also it's all about "i want to do it all by myself" these days.  

at a beach in cali

-sleep: has been sleeping in his big boy bed, mattress on the floor montessori-style, for awhile now, probably for the last 9 months or so, we still are not at the stage where we can just put him in his room and he will fall asleep easily on his own.  we have had a solid bedtime routine for years now, but he will get up and run around if we just put him in his bed when it's time to go to sleep so currently i have to snuggle next to him during nap time and hubs sits outside z's room until he falls asleep.  we are working on being able to just put him in there and leave him to fall asleep on his own.  little by little with this kid.

playing with his legos

-nourishment:  sigh.  he used to be such a good eater.  he pretty much would eat whatever we ate with the exception of raw tomatoes, eggs and avocado.  but recently he has become more picky and even if i serve something that i know he likes, he won't eat it.  i think it's an independence thing, a way to assert power.  but he basically eats the same thing for breakfast every day (cereal), and rarely will eat any of the things that he used to like yogurt or toast, for lunch he won't even eat leftovers like he used to, he only wants a sandwich (pbj or cream cheese only!!!), and for dinner i still only serve him what we are eating, but generally he takes about 10 bites of food and he is done.  i read that this is pretty typical of this age, but i feel like he is so skinny now!  maybe just because he has grown in length, but definitely his eating has slowed down.  i am still just trying to trust that he will eat when and how much he needs to, he is not going to starve himself.  but currently he loves milk, trail mix, bread, rice, salmon and other fish, sometimes he eats broccoli (he used to eat it all the time), cuc, sometimes yogurt, but mostly he likes carbs.  he eats certain fruit, like one week he will be all about the strawberries and then the next week want nothing to do with them.  he doesn't eat much protein, doesn't really like meat that much and refuses beans, and even doesn't want to eat cheese very often.  so anyway, i am going to think like the french and just keep serving him a variety of foods over and over and over a million times until he gets out of this phase.

he was harry potter for halloween

-likes: playing with his vacuum, trucks, train set, doctor kit, reading books, playing music, dancing, doing his puzzles with one of us, coloring with crayons but especially markers, using various art supplies, painting, and doing all the work that hubs and i do including vacuuming, dishes, laundry, painting, home repairs, yard work, basically whatever we are doing he wants to do hahahah!  he loooooooooooooves being outside, he loves going to the park, he loves animals, he likes to watch the big kids play, he likes cuddling with us in the morning and at night, he likes to watch curious george and daniel tiger, and he really enjoys playing with baby sister and making her laugh, he loves to read books, play with stickers, play-do, any kind of sensory activity like that

meeting his baby sister for the first time

-dislikes:  anything that he is not in the mood to do and that includes a list of pretty much everything and anything that there is to possibly do, based on his mood.  he doesn't like water in his face, getting his diaper changed, he doesn't like to stop moving to do something like get dressed, he does not like to fall asleep still, pretty much all the dislikes from his first year are still dislikes now haha.  he still does not like riding in the car.

i'm excited to see how he does at preschool, i know he will have a little bit of anxiety, but i can be there with him for the first day or more if needed and i know when he gets used to it he will enjoy it.  i am so so looking forward to when Ava is more mobile and they can really play together, it will be the best!  challenging in different ways, but it will be so great for them to be each other's playmates.  i am just really enjoying watching this boy grow, and was getting a little sad and panicky that it is going so fast and that he will never again be my tiny baby boy.  haha it's funny how time plays with your head and makes you forget the difficulties of infanthood!

it snowed a tiny bit this year

z and his bestie at the zoo 

color coding 

sweet big brother

in his soccer gear

singing

he got this airplane that comes in pieces and you put together using this drill, he loves it

he dressed himself, i think he looks like speedy gonzalez

napping with his baby sister doll

we went to san diego and played at the beach

one of the structures that he learned to climb up this past year

hubs made him a piggy bank and we have been learning about how to earn money and save it

we visited grandma and papa in cali

fishing for baby sister

he loves to do art

threenager tantrum

here he is trying to talk me into letting him play outside in the soaking rain because he has his rain boots on

i was cleaning the kitchen and it was oddly quiet in the house, so of course i assumed that they kids were getting into mischief, instead i found them playing nicely together!

big boy on his birthday!

these are from his birthday, we just had some family over and had cake and opened a few presents:

he just wanted a vacuum for his birthday and was so excited, he vacuumed all over the house, and when i asked him if he wanted some of his cake he said, "um, no thanks, i just want to vacuum"