We celebrated the little guys third birthday on July 5th. Actually, the celebration started on July 2nd when we left our house in Portland for a short vacation at a beach house in Pacific City and continued through the weekend until bedtime on July 5th!

I have to say it…he is the most amazing, smartest, funniest, strongest, fastest, cutest, sweetest three year old I know.

It is incredible to look at video from a year ago when he was only using single words for communication and think about how that has changed to non-stop talking! He is using literally BIG words, like “humongous” and “gigantic”. He loves to make up his own stories and re-tell stories about the adventures that he has been on. Like most three year olds, he loves to ask questions! Right now, “Why?”, is his favorite question. No answer is ever good enough for him…he will keep asking it…about EVERYTHING!

His memory of places, events, and things people have told him is amazing! He will remember places that we haven’t been to in over a year! Recently, we visited WCI, where I used to work, and he remembered some of my co-workers by name…we hadn’t been there in a year!!

When we are driving places, he always asks, “Where are we?” If I just give the answer, “We are driving to _______?” He asks again, “No, where are we?” He has really taken an interest in places…what city we are in, where it is in relation to where we live, where it is in relation to where family members live, etc. So, then I have to go into an explanation of where we are and where it is in relation to our house. He also remembers where his friends live…”Tommy lives in Beaverton!” When he is at home he will pretend he is looking at a map and going someplace (thanks, Dora!) so we also get out maps occasionally and look at them. He’s also a pretty good backseat driver, “No, go this way! Go faster!”

He is adorable with his little sister…most of the time. He definitely has his moments where he is overly aggressive and has to be told to “be nice” to his baby sister (she will be tough, for sure), but there are some very sweet moments, too. One of the first things he asks every morning is, “Where is ‘baby girl’?” Sometimes, when she is crying he will tell her, “It’s okay ‘baby girl’, I’m here. It’s okay.” Other times, when she is crying he will tell her, “‘Baby girl’, you just have to be tough!”

He wants to do lots of things “by myself”, but still asks for my help with some of those same things. Sometimes I remind him that I know he can do it by himself, but others I humor him because I know there will be a time when he won’t want our help with anything!

He is currently in a gymnastics class and a soccer class and does well in both of them. He listens to his teachers most of the time, but he also knows how to goof off! I am not sure yet what kind of student he will be, but it will be interesting to find out down the road…class clown maybe? He seems to always have fun and do a lot of laughing…he’s good at making the other kids laugh, too. He also likes to just observe the other kids…he been an observer since he was a little baby…remember that serious look he always had on his face?!

So, we made it through the “Terrible Two’s”…and looking back, although they were tough, like the title of another blog post, maybe they should be called the “Not-So-Terrible-Two’s“?! I hear from some that the 3’s are harder, and some say it is the 4’s, some say it gets easier…eventually. I think there are always hard times, but when I step back and look at how wonderfully amazing our little guy is it makes it all worth it.

Of course, he throws tantrums, he doesn’t listen, he does things he knows he is not supposed to, he doesn’t go to bed when he is supposed to, he doesn’t want to take naps, he is mean to his sister, he yells, he chases the dogs and cat around the house, he makes big messes and doesn’t want to clean them up…yep, he’s three ad we LOVE him!

(Those of you who have spent some time with him in the last year,what did I forget? Please leave a comment about anything I have left out…this is as much a “memory book” for our children as it is a place to write for me!)