A year ago, on Dawson’s third birthday, I had a half-written blog post that was never finished. I recalled how the clouds roared with thunder and poured down rain as that sweet boy came into the world with a bang, making me a mama. I talked about the crappy sleep, over-abundance of noise and a deep amount of love that Dawson brought into our lives. I spoke about his is high energy, sense of humor and infatuation with cars.
Now another year (and three months) have passed and I am truly having trouble comprehending the swiftness of time. Dawson’s birthday is such a sweet milestone and memory for me. A piece of me was born that day too as I realized the power and calling that lived within me. That power has, in part, carried me through the long nights and dark days that have accompanied life since then.
Each year, the couple of weeks surrounding his birthday are filled with horrendous behavior that otherwise isn’t typical of him. He turns into a defiant monster who is unable to do anything on his own, nor is he willing to accept help or comfort from anyone. Everything is a battle that nobody wins and I can only attribute it to some developmental shift that occurs cyclically with each passing year. Needless to say, the first half of May was filled with a lot of frustration, tears and raised voices from all parties involved.
Aside from that, Dawson is an incredibly sweet boy. He is emotionally sensitive and can articulate his needs and feelings very well. He’s also in-tune to the emotional needs of those around him; he’s concerned when others are upset or hurt and is always quick to lend a hand. His school places a heavy emphasis on kindness and navigating relationships which I know has helped foster this behavior.
Speaking of, he just wrapped up his first year of preschool. He loves his school and it has been an absolute Godsend for our family. It’s been a fantastic experience for him to engage with other kids, learning compassion and conflict-management under non-parental authority. We are continually impressed with the variety of content that he’s exposed to. Josh and I truly feel like his teachers have come alongside us in parenting. Having their ideas and input has helped us feel less alone and clueless — it’s truly invaluable.
The downside to school has been so much illness. Kids are seriously gross and I didn’t know it was possible for us to catch so many viruses. Josh and I have been sick more frequently in the last year than the last five years combined; it’s awful. A couple of weeks after his birthday, Dawson was diagnosed with asthma which resulted from the pneumonia he had last spring. Having asthma has exacerbated any upper respiratory infection he catches, making it more severe and harder to overcome. It’s been really discouraging and exhausting as I feel like our family can’t catch a break. Hopefully our immune systems will be indestructible in time.
Developmentally, Dawson’s gross motor skills are strong and his fine motor skills are still a work in progress, which speaks directly to his interests in things like running, jumping and climbing, and his disfavor for things like coloring and painting. However, in the last few months he’s taken an interest in learning how to write letters, so we’ve been practicing on a whiteboard. He also recently started drawing faces with arms and legs. It’s fun to watch him take an interest in something new and master skills that used to frustrate him.
He thoroughly enjoys being read to which I love because that’s not something I remember having an interest in as a child, but am now an avid reader. Other interests include: Legos and Mega Blocks. The symmetry and creativity displayed in the structures he builds is quite impressive. He also loves riding his balance bike. For his birthday he received the next size up, which he’s really excited about — we’ll add the pedals soon. The Rescue Bots he was gifted on his third birthday continue to be a favorite toy as well. He has two baby dolls; his love and desire to care for them ebbs and flows. That said, he couldn’t be more excited to become a big brother.
I am simultaneously thrilled for him to have a little sister and also mourning these last few weeks with him as my only baby. It’s a lot for us to navigate on top of our already tumultuous life. We’re accustomed to chaos so cheers to more of it (and please send help).
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