Sunday, March 4, 2012

Thriving In Year Three

Today, Jamie is officially three.  Tempus fugit.

In some ways he's a completely different kid from when he was born and in some ways he's just the same.  He's still stuck to me like bur on a regular basis and he never wants to be far from me.  Since I can't wear him in a sling anymore, he settles for following me wherever I go.  He still demands the lion's share of my attention most days - to the point of demanding extra affection if he sees me hugging his brother.

But the baby in him?  The baby is gone and we're entering the hardest year we'll face (save for the teen years) - The Terrifically Terrible Threes.  The year I've dreaded since he was born a redhead.  At least I know that I'll  be weathering whatever he throws at me WITHOUT morning sickness.  Pregnancy really complicated Liam's Year Three.

The battles have already begun and we've been saying  for months that he's acting Three.  I don't expect his behavior to really change but I do expect the next year is going to be a running battle over every little thing.  I expect my patience to wear thin on a regular basis.  I expect that I'll want to sell him at least once a week.

But I also expect that he'll kill with me cute rays.  I expect that he'll smother me with love and hugs and smiles. I expect that he'll keep improving his language and begin to stun me with his smarts.  I expect that he'll challenge me to find new parenting strategies while desperately trying to maintain the fiction that I actually know what I'm doing.

It's going to be a fun year and we'll have our battles but we'll also continue to pick up activities that were simply impossible when Jamie was younger.  I know that most people miss their babies as they grow up, but I am relishing getting to know my children as whole people and experiencing the world with them.  What's happening now is the validation of all the hard work of getting through infancy.  It's hard but it's so worth it.

Newborn Jamie



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