Zane's birthday pictures

Sometimes i forget what an anxious kid Zane can be. He's so free-spirited about so many things - he'll run around the neighborhood, meeting new people with glee. He has no worries about starting school or going on sleepovers or going off on his own in a library or store or church or whatever.

But there are just things that make him nervous, and there's no convincing him that it's not worrisome. He won't go downstairs to go to the bathroom by himself in the morning when everyone else is upstairs. He doesn't like being in the kitchen by himself. And he doesn't like getting his face wet.

And today, when we went to take pictures of him for his birthday, you can see, in some of them, that he's nervous about something or other. He didn't want to walk through a path in the field that might be wet. He was quite afraid of the train tracks (Which...yeah, okay. Fair enough.) and he was really nervous about that area with the graffiti.

Also, there was a path we walked back to our house on, and he was all, "What if there's a raccoon? What if there's a skunk?"
Me: "They're both nocturnal. We're fine."
Him: "What's that noise i hear?"
Me: "Probably a bunny."
Him: "I don't like bunnies! They can be mean!!!"
Me: "Bunnies? Can be mean?"
Him: "Yes! Maybe!!"

I think we're inventing worries now.

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I made him wash his face, and i considered having him change into clean clothes and fix his hair, but honestly? This is exactly what he looks like all the time. He's messy and active and it's summer. So. This is Zane. Nerves, mess, slightly fake smiles at times, and total adorableness.