The Growth Factor

Wee man is growing.

Like a little weed!

He has grown more in the last 4 or 5 months than the entire year he has been home with us.

It's as if his little, wee body has said "Right! We are finally healthy, all parasites/buggies are gone, all food incoming is now going to go to excellent use, and we can commence growing at an alarming rate!" And so he eats....like a 13 year old teen...he eats!

Some days he wakes up and we both look at him and say "Wow dude! You grew overnight."

Literally!

This morning I looked at him and thought he must have grown last night because he is taller. Seriously! He is taller! He looks leaner and has lost the baby fat/parasite/malnutrion bulge he had when we first met him. The parasite battle has been over for a long time but his teeny belly seemed stuck in the distended position as if those first 2 year's of his life taught it that it should just stick out.

He has outgrown 4 shoes sizes in a year!

4 SHOES SIZES!

He was a size 5 last January and we recently purchased his spring shoes in a size 9! 

Not to mention the pants. He was wearing size 12-18 months when we got him and still had to roll them up. At 24 months he was fitting size 12 months....he weighed 21 pounds and now weighs about 33 pounds.  Now he is in size 3 and even those are fast becoming too small.

So we have been going through many pairs of pants.  Everytime we turn around it looks like his ankles are ready for a flood of gargantous proportions to roll through his immediate area.  I would say it is Urkel-like but only in the "dude you wear your pants waaaaaay to short" sense. He is far to cute to truly be Urkel.

I vaguely remember growing pains as a kid and how my legs ached so bad I wished I could take them off.  I can't imagine how it feels to grow so much so fast.  Wee man's little body is now in a position to be able to "catch up" to where he should be but wasn't given a chance to when he was a wee babe. Some days he is so crabby and we have to remember how painful all this catch up must be.

Not only is his body growing but so is his emotional/intelluctual self.  His speech is rapidly becoming age-appropriate. We can now have full on conversations with him and it makes life so much easier.  He can tell us what he needs, wants and is feeling better than ever. It certainly makes for a happier household.  And Dude! He is SMART!!! Smarter than the two of us combined and that is dangerous.

However, with the speech development comes the confidence to tell us like it is.  Case in point, the other night wee dude said to me "Mama, GET ME MY SUPPER!"  Excuse me!?  We are now working on "Please" so at least now he says "Mama, PLEASE get me my supper!" Ha! 

Emotions at 3 are something else.  Many, many people said to us "3 is worse than 2" and I DID NOT believe them.  2 is random and out of control because they are learning so much and can't get across what they want or need. They can go in one direction and something catches their attention and they are off in a new direction before you can turn your head.

3 is full of the DRAMAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!  Seriously, Academy Awards could be won in our house for the way little man can turn on the tears when he doesn't get his way and then shut them off just as quickly as they started.  The "I'm-going-to-stick-my-lip-out-a-la-Guiness-Book-of-World-Records-style" pouts to see if that works on ya is something to behold my friends.

3 is also chock full of fun!  We can laugh together over silly jokes, actions, or crazy living- room-dance parties.  His smile lights up an entire block and his giggle is infectious! Really, when he starts giggling you need a HazMat suit to keep from becoming infected too and never being able to stop laughing along with him.

Watching the growth and development of the wee one is awe inspiring.  There is nothing else like it in the world. We see things anew through his eyes...he sees things in the world around us we haven't seen in long, long time and it is so good to be enlightened with the help of such an amazing little dude.

Now, if only we can get him to stay in bed until 8 in the A.M. and life will be perfect!