Shane is one: Walking, waving and stealing my heart

Hi! I'm Shane Dawson and I turned one on Jan. 6!

Shane is one-years-old. He has four teeth and says two words: “Mama” and “mum-mum.” “Mum-mum” means food. He can walk like crazy and when he does he gets really excited with himself and laughs along the way. He’s getting better and better and now can weave and bob across the house. It’s amazingly sweet. You can’t help but cheer him on. Even his sister, Gabriella, gets into the excitement and counts his steps. This is quite the coup as she’s a little jealous.

Shane loves unloading drawers in the kitchen and getting into cabinets. He gets scolded when he starts poking around under the sink. He’s claimed two drawers and a cabinet of pans as official areas of play. My wooden spoons and a white spatula are great for beating on the lids of my set of stockpots. I let go long ago and have approved.

Shane’s eyes are magnificent. They’re always changing colors. Sometimes they’re a cool, steely blue. At other times, they’re green. Sometimes they look bright blue; it depends on the light, his clothing and, I believe, his mood. This is a trait he’s inherited from his dad.

Shane loves banana-strawberry yogurt, Mum-Mums, Cheerios and quesadilla slices. When it’s time to eat, I’ll provide a spoon or fork and try to show the boy how to use it, but he prefers to mush things between his fingers. He’s all about how things feel right now. This is most evident by his form of saying “hi,” which is to poke you in the mouth and try to feel your teeth. He does this to everyone. My friend, Jasmine, claims he’s destined to be a dentist. If so, I wouldn’t mind!

My little boy is stout! Not fat, just thick. He weighs nearly as much as his big sister who’s three-years-old and certainly fills out his 12-month-sized clothes. He’s got muscular legs and a squinched little butt that I find utterly adorable.

Shane loves the bathtub. For Christmas and his birthday he got a bunch of bath toys. They are put to use, believe me! That boy has the most fun in the tub and has no fear in the water. When he shares a bath with his sister, it’s the one place where he dominates. He’ll just plow right over Gabriella to get to whatever he wants and he never complains about getting his hair washed – thank heaven!

The latest development is that Shane’s learning to wave “hi.” It’s something I’ve been trying to show him for some time, but two days ago, I swear, I saw the concept click. His eyes got large and he looked at me waving and then did it a few times himself. Now he thinks it’s hilarious and when I see it, my heart warms.

So, one whole year and the boy has survived our crazy family. He’s come so far and so have we all. It was hard having two little ones in the beginning. At times, I didn’t think I had it in me to mother both of my kids well. I keep saying that I need to find a rhythm, but I’m not so sure things we’ll ever get easier, I will just be more practiced to handle them. Not to be a braggart, but I’m now able to simultaneously do laundry, cook dinner, pop in and out of the living room to play with the two kids and sometimes chat on the phone. This is big for me. Despite all of my ineptitude, I’m thankful for my little guy. Shane is beautiful and we’re in this wild ride together. I just hope he can love me a measly fraction of the amount I love him.

Shane's unhappy expressions are even sweet to me.

Life IS good with this guy around.

Shane with his beloved Uncle Andrew.

Shane in the buff.

Shane was a little dinosaur for Halloween. Gabriella picked out his costume.

My little premie baby shortly after we came home from the hospital a little over a year ago.

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