Three Years Old

Our boy is three years old.  Once again I can't believe it's been three years, and I can't believe it's only been three years.  I literally have a hard time remembering what our little life was like without him.

At three we honestly couldn't ask for a better kid.  Sure he's a little wild and has his moments, but he's also incredibly sweet, smart and as easy as you could ask for at this age.  I know I'll never forget these things, but I fear if I don't write them down I'll forget when he was like this.

He is very independent as long as he's not tired, and once he learns how to do something he tends to get very upset if you take that opportunity away from him.  Sometimes I forget this, and he gets MAD when I do something he can do.  For example, laundry.  Now that I have taught him how to sort the colors, pour the detergent, switch to the dryer, etc., he wants to do every single step.  It makes the process take 10 times longer but he absolutely loves being part of such an important task so it's worth it.

He never forgets anything.  Ever.  He may remember and ignore it, but he remembers.  It's quite startling sometimes.  We'll get off an exit from the highway we haven't been off in a year and he'll immediately ask if we are going to the circus, or aquarium, or ear doctor; wherever it was we last went there no matter how long it has been.  He remembers the faces the animals made at him the last time we went to the zoo, the shoes he wore everywhere, how many brothers and sisters each classmate has, the song that he heard somewhere new.  This is 100% Jason in him.  I can't remember anything.  I've always been much better in the logic arenas, I take test by ruling out answers that don't make sense, not by remembering the correct answer.  Jason remembers every thing he's ever read, watched, or known.  He's one of those you want to have on your trivia team, but don't want to have to watch Jeopardy with.

He likes to keep the same sequence of events as well, and if you forget a step he's quick to remind you. This is both extraordinarily helpful and frustrating.  I know exactly what it takes to get him to bed, so that is nice.  On the other hand, sometimes when we are running late I wish I could skip a few steps but that always backfires.  I know I shouldn't complain though, he gets that honest and I do like knowing his patterns too.

He HATES my hair up.  It is so bizarre.  The second I pull any of it up he says TAKE YOU HAIR BOW OFF, MAMA, PLEASE.  If I don't he gets very upset and has even cried a few times.  It's honestly weird and freaks Jason out.  He also follows up if it changes.  If he lays down to take a nap and it's up, and he wakes up and I've showered and it's down, it's the first thing he wants to talk about.  I have no idea what I'm going to do on maternity leave.

He's so so so sweet.  SO sweet.  He's forever giving us unsolicited hugs, kisses and I love you mama/daddys.  He gives genuine complements, I like you're purple toes mama, that's a super cool hat dada, I like this supper mama, etc.  He's very concerned with his friends and cousins too.  Whenever he gets to do anything fun or gets something new, he immediately ask if Lillian and Cawley get to do the same.  Sometimes it's Levi from class.  For his birthday he asked for the same thing for months:  Three motorcycles.  One to me, one to Cawley, and one to Lillian.   He was serious.

He uses "to" as the universal preposition.  This is to the baby.  This is to my race car.  This is only to the laundry, not to the dishwasher, etc.  It's so cute.  He also hasn't picked up on "your" so everything is "you."  Take you shoes off.  

His baby sister is his baby.  Not our baby.  He talks about her all the time and it's always are you going to carry my baby up the stairs, my baby is so small, my baby doesn't have teeth.  

When talking to me he ends every sentence in mama.  Where am I going to today, mama.  I want to go outside and ride my bike, mama.  I am so fast, mama.  Literally almost every sentence.  I think it may bug me if he started every sentence that way, but having it at the end makes me insanely happy.

I know there are a thousand other things that makes him special right now but those are what stick out.  He's just so cool and fun and we love him more than we ever thought possible.  If these three years have taught me anything it's that we all three belong to each other and with each other in every possible way.  I can't imagine us with any other kid in the world, and I can't imagine him with any other parents.  I know we'll feel the same when our girl joins us and that has us all kinds of excited.

His little family birthday party is next weekend, but we still had fun celebrating this weekend as well.  Here his first few three year old pictures.

School Birthday Celebration

Today at school Hardin's class celebrated his and Sam's birthday.  Hardin was so excited the past week because he knew he was going to take Spidey Puck-Cakes to share with his friends.  I picked up the little candies last week and he's been eyeing them every day.  Last night he decorated the little store bought mini cupcakes all by himself and I kid you not when I say he couldn't have been prouder.  There were even a few excited giggle/shivers during the process.

I love love love how much simple little things mean the world to him at this age.  He talked about that awesome party all day long, and it was all of 10 minutes from start to finish.  This weekend we are giving him his big gift on his actual birthday, Saturday, and then hitting up one or two fall festivals.  Next weekend Mimi will be in town and we are having his family birthday party then.  He's going to have over a week of celebrations, so he aught to be equal parts confused and happy.

Also, I found out that these two turkeys have been sneaking around on me.  They were up getting ready to go to breakfast the other morning and I mentioned they sure did look nice for Papa Jacks.  Jason said they were going to play golf after and I made a big fuss about taking pictures.  Jason looked at me funny and I told him it was a big deal, I needed a picture of their first golf outing together.  They both gave me the "she's crazy" look and then Jason told me it wasn't the first time.  Come to find out they've been going to the course to chip and putt on daddy day care Wednesdays since the beginning of summer.  At first I thought I really should ask more questions around here, but I don't want to.  I love the fact that I don't worry for a second about what they do all day.  Neither one of them can sit still so I know they keep busy.  They have some kind of special relationship, these two, and I love watching it.

I. Am. NOT. Three. Yet.

I haven't been blogging as much, but rest assured we have been busy keeping up with our boy.  He is a total trip right now and runs 90 to nothing from the moment his feet hit the ground until he crashes at night.  I would be lying if I said we didn't know where he gets it from though, he's equal parts crazy me and active Jason.

One story that had us laughing this week was from School.  We were running late Thursday and I had to walk him in.  His teacher said she was happy to see me because she's been wanting to talk.  I cringed.  She said something along the lines of "tell me about his potty training."  I fought the urge to laugh.  What potty training?  She then told me at all of their potty breaks he'll pull down his pants and pull-up but will not even consider touching the potty.  If they push at all he holds his hands up and says "NO! I. Am. NOT. Three. Yet." I laugh just thinking of him standing there, britches down, hands up saying that.

I can see how that may be confusing to someone who doesn't live here, but for us it's quite normal.  After an epic potty training fail this summer, we dropped the issue.  Then out of nowhere he started telling us he was going to go to the big boy potty when he turns three.  We are anxiously waiting to see if that actually happens.  His teacher thinks he might just surprise us and transition quite easily.  She said he's a very determined little fellow and if he set this personal goal for himself he'll likely achieve it.

We shall see.  None of us are in a big hurry about it.  Before I had a kid it baffled me that everyone didn't rush to potty train their kids as soon as possible.  Now the thought of being out in public, during the winter, with a newborn and a three year old trying to find a public restroom makes me a lot more anxious than any pull-up ever has.

This weekend Jason played in a three day tournament at Lake Oconee.  Hardin and I kept ourselves busy at the pumpkin patch with Austin Saturday, and working on the baby room today.  We took a trip down to the lake to try and take a three year old picture at Gigi's request, but that was better in theory than execution.  He wanted nothing to do with standing still and smiling when there were so many rocks to dig and throw.  And I had no Smarties, so the few good smiling pictures I have his teeth are stained brown with the mini M&Ms I took to bribe him.  We'll try again for "the one" but these capture the real H pretty well. He's curious and fun, busy and all boy.  I wouldn't trade an ounce of that for a silly picture.