Because I'm Happy!

I have SO many reasons to be happy!  But today I'm especially happy for 6 reasons:

Reason #1 -  June 24, 2008 at 3:59pm...Birth

My son, Zac Ethan Craner, was born!  He's the only one of my deliveries that I actually got all choked up and emotional over.  All the others were exhausting and frankly...they hurt too much to get emotional.  Zac's delivery hurt too...but there was something different about it.  Each of my previous deliveries revealed a cute little dark haired baby, chubby cheeks, and quite frankly -- a girl.  When Zac came out and I saw him for the first time, he was blonde.  He looked exactly like his daddy.  And quite frankly -- I'd just delivered a boy.  He was something that reflected the man that I love so much and am so happy to spend the eternities with.  My second memory of Zacy was in the arms of his daddy.  How could I NOT get all choked up???

Reason #2 - 2009-2010, Perspective

This year was a hard one for me.  I was fat.  I was a little down on myself.  Okay, I was on an extended freaking pity pot!  However, this cute little boy continued to shine and give his mama smiles.  He was the EASIEST baby!  He helped remind me that there will always be time to focus on my body...but I only had these precious moments with him & they will pass by and no longer happen again.

Reason #3 - 2010-2011, Patience

This year was when Zacy taught me patience.  And that's something to be happy about.  We moved to AZ, where we learned Zacy had BIG issues with adjustment to new things.  Within the first week of being in our new house, Zacy was waking up screaming and refusing to be comforted.  And he did this about every 2 hours each night.  He did this for 3 months!  Ryan and I were on our breaking point....no sleep...Zacy was escaping from his room....we could NOT contain the screams....and trying to take care of 2 other children...it was HARD!  Finally, we bought a new door handle to his room, and put a sock on the handle (because he knew how to undo those store bought kinds).  Within a week, he was back to sleeping through the night.

This was also the year that we didn't think Zac would ever learn to talk.  He barely said anything.  His behavior patterns and speech delay made us think he was Autistic.  We had him tested, we took him to a speech pathologist.  Everything seemed to be fine psychologically.  All we needed was patience.

Reason #4 - 2011-2012, Acceptance

"Zac, what is your favorite super hero?"  "Do you want to play with a friend?"  "Do you want to play with a car or truck?"

These are all questions that Zacy never really associated with.  He didn't know who super heroes were, nor did he really have any interest in discovering who they were anyways.  Up until this point, he had little desire to interact with anyone beyond his family members.  Anyone from church or in social activities that came up to him and even uttered any words to him, received a big scowl and often times a "Don't talk to me!" statement or the like.  And Zac didn't have any interest in cars, or balls, or the typical toys that boys love (or so I thought).

Instead, his interests were: lightbulbs, wires, tools, electrical outlets, circuits, and pretty much anything that had a current of electricity flowing through it.  During this year, he grabbed a battery, some wire, and a lightbulb.  He then, made it light up.  This year, I learned how to accept my little buddy for who he is, and not try to make him like everybody else!

Reason #5 - 2012-2013, Growth

Zac grew 10ft this year, I swear!  He was no longer my toddler.  He was my little man.  I told Adelie, his older sister, that one day he would be as tall as her and if she persisted in tormenting and teasing him (all big sisters need some sort of leverage against their younger brothers), that he was going to thump on her big time!  This year, it happened!

But Zacy didn't just grow physically this year.  He grew immeasurably mentally and socially.  His vocabulary went from a about 100 words to 10000 words.  His cognitively went off the charts...if you could apply any sort of physics to the sentence, it stuck!  Because of the amazing individual attention he got from his preschool teacher, Mrs. Wendy, she was able to help Zacy blossom into the person he is now.  She had a way of connecting to him that helped him feel secure and happy.  Every time I would try to have him interact in a social setting, he'd retaliate.  Mrs. Wendy helped him overcome that anxiety to a degree...but well enough that he no longer shrank with social interactivity!

Reason #6 - 2013-2014,  Best Friends

Zacy would hand me a piece of paper almost 365 day of the year, which had my name associated with either a "good list" or a "bad list."  I'm happy to say that I made the "good list" more times than not.  But I'm especially grateful for this year because he and I have developed a relationship that I've only dreamed of before.  Because he's such a hard book to read, I've had to put on my listening ears and my compassionate contacts in order to understand him.  So, when he needs extra love, he and I will snuggle and talk about cords and plugs.  When he needs attention, I'll pour him a bowl of cereal and we'll talk about the different things he's learning in school.  When he's being extra sensitive, I try my hardest to give him my undivided attention...but sometimes I make that "bad list" if I'm not fast enough.

But over all, I'm so happy he and I have a status of "Best Friends," judging by the little slips of paper that I receive each day, telling me how much he loves me and I see the cute little stick figures (finally...I'm skinny again!) holding hands and smiling.

And for these reasons, I'm happy!