Second Son Is Three!

Second Son turned three a few weeks ago. It's hard to believe we don't have a two year old (or someone who will soon be two) in our house anymore.

He loves to build with LEGOs and makes elaborate abstracts "ships" for us, though he needs help taking them apart.

We have plenty of age-appropriate toys for him, but he prefers the LEGOs and Playmobil, of course, because those are the ones his big brother and big sisters like best.

He often says things are too scary for him, like The Pirate Movie and Toy Story.

He's thinking

He talks and talks and talks. Kansas Dad calls him a chatterbox. He tells us all about the books he's reading and the toys he's playing with and what he's going to do and what he sees and on and on.

He has an Angry Birds shirt and two Cars shirts. He chooses whichever one he sees first when it's time to get dressed and would wear nothing else if one of them were always clean.

He runs aways when he needs a diaper change. He does not want to be diaper-free, as enticing as the Cars underwear and gummi bear rewards might be, so we're waiting a bit longer.

He'll start Catechesis in the fall. I'll be his teacher; hopefully he hears the voice of God despite me.

He loves to jump into the pool, or slide down the kiddy slide into the water. He keeps trying to swim even though he knows he can't.

oh, look at all the buttons!

He's three so sometimes he doesn't know what he wants, but he knows it's not what we've given him (even if it's what he requested). Usually, we find it best to wait a few minutes and he'll forget he didn't want it.

Sometimes he doesn't like to eat breakfast. So he just has a snack later.

His favorite candy is Smarties. By far. He also likes gummy bears.

No celebration or outing is complete without a visit to the frozen yogurt store. His favorite toppings are gummy bears and marshmallows. The yogurt itself is relatively unimportant.

Sometimes he won't sit in his high chair at the table, insisting on a regular chair. I have to remind him a hundred times during the meal to sit down. He washes his own hands after the meal and sometimes clears his plate, too.

Mother's Day 2013

 He keeps jumping off the new couch; we have to remind him over and over again not to jump.

His favorite books: Bear Wants More and all the other Bear books. He loves when we read to him; I particularly love to listen to First Son read to him.

First Son will duel with him. They each have light sabers, but Second Son is only half his height. First Son always lets him win. He's a terribly cute Jedi.

He only recently figured out how to open doors. He likes to come into our room in the morning and say, "Get up, sleepyheads!" (Especially after everyone laughed so hard the first time he did it.)

His favorite food? Hot dogs, maybe. He eats so much of everything and will try a remarkable number of foods, though he often says, "That's too spicy for me." Even if it's not spicy. He loves yogurt and cottage cheese. He eats his pancakes without syrup, most of the time, and loves bacon. Recently he ate three pieces of bacon and nothing else for breakfast. (It was turkey bacon, so three pieces is not too excessive.)

He does not like bedtime, but usually goes quietly, especially recently when we let him climb into his crib by himself. We take him to bed before night-time prayers with the others (which made night-time prayers a thousand times better for everyone else). We sing songs. It used to be two songs, but he usually talks me into four now by asking for something like The Hail Mary or the Magnificat last. Who can refuse that? He'll sing along, too.

He likes You Are My Sunshine (replacing Sunshine with his name), the Hairbrush Song, and the Alphabet Song. He has four favorite Veggie CDs: Backyard Party, Playtime Songs, Sunday Morning Songs, and More Sunday Morning Songs, but I think that's mostly because of the covers.

He often asks to listen to the Kids' Favorites playlist on Spotify, which begins with songs from Despicable Me. He can do a wonderful rendition of the Minion's Irish Drinking Song (along with his siblings).

First Son can always make Second Son laugh. He's a great big brother, helping him along in just about every way.

This birthday party was the first one Second Son enjoyed. In the past, he always cried at all the noise and people and candles. But he had a fabulous time. One of my friends made the kids. She did a particularly good job on Second Son's cake.

He's still playing with these cars.

Happy birthday my little man! We're blessed to be your family!