A Change Has Occured.

Sawyer's birthday party went so well. Lots of people came over and of course our place was a disaster area. But that kept with our construction theme so the messier the better. We had enough food and drinks (thank goodness). Our different groups of new friends seemed to get along, no fistfights. As far as actual events, our party didn't have too many. Of course, we sang and opened presents. Sawyer smashed into his first cake. Since mommy's a little cautious with the sweets, it was just a plain yellow cupcake with no frosting. I'm trying to stay in-between the extremes. I just heard a really cute idea for the health-conscious baby's first cake: a mashed potato cupcake decorated with peas and carrots. It's a really adorable idea but I'm really not worried one cupcake with create a monster at the age of one. He already is a monster. He already wants to eat everything, just not what's on his tray. He hated grilled cheese at lunchtime, but when I ate it for dinner he HAD TO HAVE it. Running the risk of spoiling him, I let him have some just to see if he really did like it or if it was just that he wanted it. And he did eat it. So, we did the cake, but left out the frosting to avoid a complete sugar overload and subsequent meltdown. Sawyer dug in like any respectable one-year-old would and we got some cute pictures.

Now that Sawyer is one, there has been a surprisingly abrupt change. The first is that he's dropped the prized second nap. He used to take one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Poof! Afternoon nap is gone forever. But for all of you without kids or who think there's nothing to raising one, that's just more time for me to sit on my ever-expanding butt, right? Just a little joke there! The second change is the 'tude has arrived. Sawyer knows what he wants, and when he wants it. It's somewhat new, or at least the volume and intensity of it is. He throws mini-tantrums. They last all of 4 seconds but still make me wonder what the terrible two's are all about. This is only one! "Honey, would you like some more..." Smack! The sippy cup has been knocked out of my hand and flies across the dining room. Okay so you don't want to drink any more. He used to make the sign for "all done" but now find much more creative ways to send this message. When the vacuum is out, Sawyer doesn't want to watch. He needs to watch. His itsy bitsy beautiful life depends on it, and damn it mommy I will ride the vacuum. We have a headstrong little boy. It's not surprising because both of his parents are headstrong. Pat is more overt about it. I just stew and steam on the inside and smile on the outside. Very Thai. I'm holding out for our U.S. trip to browse the toddler discipline books in person. I'm not buying some book online that ends up telling me stuff I already know or that spends chapter after chapter telling me what's normal, but offers no strategies. The "What to Expect" series has helped me a lot up to this point, but I now want a list of behaviors in one column, and another column that tells me whether they're acceptable or not for a one-year-old. I'm ready to get all "Mrs. Anderson fifth-grade drill sergeant" but know that you have to choose your battles...I just don't know which ones to pick! The main thing is we're trying to teach him to be polite and use his signs to let us know what he wants. We're also trying to be better about what we let him play with. Even though we have only 3 channels and don't watch much t.v., the channel changers were Sawyer's prized possession. He likes to crawl around holding one. His crawl usually sounds like "smack, smack" from his hands on the wood floors, but with the channel changer he gets some pirate peg-leg action. "Smack, CLACK, smack, CLACK." Take it away, and he's hot. Instead of me being lazy and letting him play with it to get him quiet so I can get something done, and THEN taking it away, I just don't let him play with it in the first place. We're getting there...

To express my adoration for SuperSawyer since I just aired his dirty laundry, here is a list of things I love about him. Twelve, one for each month he's been in my world. Okay go get your tissues or your barf bag, depending on how you feel about kids:

1. Sloppy, wet, watermelon kisses when I don't expect them. That can make my week.
2. Sawyer eats his Cheerios in bites. Nothing is cuter than looking at a Cheerio on the coffee table that has perfectly round bite out of it. How does he do that?
3. I love how he sits expressionless on his Tonka truck while I push him around, even though he enjoys the ride. It's like he thinks he's a king. Of course, slow the truck down and he'll flex his royal authority.
4. His peek-a-boo games are really quick, as if he doesn't want to be hiding for too long and worry you.
5. When I chase him crawling on the floor, he stops and sprawls out to let me win and "get him."
6. The face he makes while he drinks out of a sippy cup.
7. Playing "Sooo big" with him...he puts his arms up and we say "soooo" until he puts them down and he gets a kick out of how long he can make us stretch the word.
8. Three times now Sawyer has crawled to our back bathroom, shut the door, gave some grunts, and swung the door open with a smile and a full diaper. I did not teach him that one.
9. In the pool, he does a shrimp swim, kicking both legs at the same time.
10. If Sawyer drools on the floor, he absolutely must draw in it with his fingers.
11. Sawyer doesn't care if my hair is messed up and I'm not wearing any make-up.
12. He loves books, especially his one book with a scratch-and-sniff feature. Because of that book, he has to smell every book we read.

Songkran begins tomorrow. I will update you and try to take pictures. I've been warned that from Saturday to Tuesday, don't expect to leave the house without getting drenched. People just sit in the streets and spray or dump water on you. They also put powder with tiger balm on your face for a nice icy-hot sensation. And if you're a foreign girl, you will be groped by Thai men. It should be very interesting!