My (almost) three year old.

It's so weird that you're going to be three next month.  Every year (at least for the first 5 or so) seems to be such an accomplishment -for more reasons than one!  You are definitely a bit more secure on your feet, you haven't had any trips to the ER for ages now.  You can run and climb and jump and do all sorts of weird, scare your grandma's to death sort of maneuvers without a lot of pain.  You are still sporting at least one bruise on your head, and a half dozen on your legs, but you are getting better!

You are full swing in the 'kids say the darnedest things' stage.  Grandma Hardcastle watched you guys for a bit last night and tried to get you to go to bed (something that dad and I have been struggling with the past few weeks).

At first, you came downstairs while Grandma was cleaning up your toys.  You quietly announced that you needed to help grandma clean up.  You then (as slowly as possible) put your toys, one by one, in your toy boxes and went back to bed.  Your next complaint was that your tummy hurt.  "I don't know what is wrong with my tummy,  I have too much food in it, it's too hard to sleep."

You say "Oh, that sounds like a good idea" and "Oh, sure" quite often.  You absolutely light up when you notice that Kate's awake.  You like to give her hugs and kisses, whether she is wanting them or not.  She just adores you as well, and try's to 'get you' where ever and what ever you are doing.  You often retreat to the piano room or outside so you can play without a little sister taking all of your toys.  You're not always so nice though, you will sometimes push her down either when she's trying to bother you -or you're bored.  You always try to get me to leave your two alone, "Go away mom, I'm playing with Kate".

When you say your prayers at night, and I say "Please help me to be a good listener" you always add, "... at the park".  I believe it's your way of reminding me that you'd like to spend all of our days together at the park.  I try to get you there at least every couple of days.  We'll have a hard winter, I suppose.

You watch too much TV and play with the iPad too much.  I try to get you to do other things and get us out of the house everyday, but I'm still not perfect in that respect.  You still climb on everything, couches, counters, dressers, desks, cribs -if it's above ground, you'll climb on top.  We're working on that one too.

But, I think you have good manners -please, thank you, you're welcome, pardon.  You are getting better at listening to mom (and dad) and you're actually working on better table manners.  You love pancakes and syrup, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and cereal.  Chocolate milk, water and ALL fruits.  I have to stop you from eating fruit during the day.  I'd run out of banana's every day if I didn't.  Banana's, apples, oranges, grapes, and peaches.  Vegetables are a different story, but we'll work on that too.

 These are your train's snow plows.  

 On Jodi's new exercise machine.  

 Playing in Big Matt's new kayak.  

 All dressed up for church this last week.  

 You're new backpack and church bag.  It used to be mine.  It's just a lucky coincidence it's the red sox colors!  

 At the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.   

 I just love the things you come up with when you're playing.  

You're learning new things every day and your little brain seems to be working overtime.  It amazes me the new things you say and do everyday.

Goodbye mom...

Success

"So... is this normal? Hyrum said he needed to go poop, so I helped him on the potty, and he just went." (Question from dad this morning, who has been gone for 2 weeks and I was away on my girls weekend).

It is now!!!

I hesitate to say this, but I think we've made it kid. There were a few moments (and weeks) I wasn't sure it would ever happen. But, then it seemed like something clicked and all of the sudden you were asking to go, and we were having no accidents. Ever. I'm sure we'll have accidents in the future, and we haven't even attempted naptime and bedtime, but we'll start thinking about that when you're three.

Here's a game you were playing with dad the day he left for Rhode Island.

And here is why you are uncle Gordon's FAVORITE nephew -you just love the 'cruiser.

Stuck in the mud

We went to Davis county's 5K the day that dad left (about a week and a half ago). Mom and dad ran the race (dad came in first) and you got to participate in the kids mud run. Man... it was muddy!!!

You were a little nervous so I walked out with you, and then your shoes got stuck in the mud right off. I took them off, thinking you'd like to run in the mud barefoot. You weren't thrilled, but you were still a good sport about it. Afterwards they had a fire truck come and hose everybody off. You don't really like running through sprinklers when your face gets wet, but you ran through the water a few times with dad.

Kate was there too -right during nap time.

After all the fun you and Jodi went to her work party at Boondocks. According to her (I’m sure it’s the truth) you had a blast and could have stayed and played all day. Here’s a few of her pictures.

I'm happy

There are so many things that you say -every day, all day, but that I'm sure I'll forget all too soon.

"I'm happy" is one I hear dozens of times a day. At least. You'll say it out of the blue, for no reason I can see. You will say it very often when I tell you it's time for a nap or bedtime, I think "I'm happy" and "I'm tired" just don't fit together in your mind. You ask me if I'm happy, if Kate's happy, if dad is happy.

You tell me "Happy Mothers Day" 3 or 4 times a week.

Every time you get up in the morning and from your nap I hear, "Good morning. I had a good nap". Sometimes I hear that after you've played around in your room for a while and don't want to sleep.

You like to have certain things in your room when you go to bed, but lately you just want them on your dresser -not with you on your bed. You have your airplane "Jeremy", helicopter "Harold" and whatever else you were playing with -often it's Thomas and Percy.

You're usually very polite, and will say "Thank you" and "No thank you" without me reminding you. We're also working on how to ask for things like, "Mom, can I have some milk, please?"

My absolute favorite thing you say? Mom, I have to go pee (or poop). That's right, I'm so close to saying that you're potty trained!!!! We haven't had an accident for a month or more. You tell me every time you have to go. I think it'll be a great test to see how you do on Friday, when you spend the day with Mimi. I hope you have a successful day! You've actually starting saying "Oh, I almost forgot... I want to go potty". Pretty funny.

Dad has been gone a lot this summer, and you started saying "Dad, are you lost" on the phone when you talk to him. The other day you were playing trains and said you were going to Chicago (one of the places he was).

You're very interested and convinced that everywhere we go and whoever we're going to see, "Oh, they have lots of toys". This includes Grandma's house, the library, friends houses, any stores we're going to, and of course parks.

You have a great memory. You memorize books within a couple of times we read them, you remember things for weeks at a time, and if I tell you before bedtime you can have a potty treat in the morning -that's the first thing you ask for when you wake up.

You love bubble baths, but you don't want bubbles anymore. Just water, mom, no bubbles.

You can say, or at least add to, prayers. Your favorite part is to add people/toys that you love. I'll say, "I love mom and dad and baby Kate..." and you'll add Thomas and Percy, my desk and my blanket, grandma, Jodi... etc.

I'll try to do a better job of remembering and writing down more of the funny things you say throughout the day -for you and for me.