You also LOVE trucks, especially construction trucks. There is so much road construction going on right now that it's really entertaining driving around with you - as soon as you see a construction vehicle, you'll shout out what it is --- "excabator", "steam roller", "cement truck", "crane", "front loader", "bull dozer", "dump truck", "garbage truck", "mail truck", "school bus". :-)
Some of your favorite things to say right now are, "dat's good idea", "I wanna tell you someping", "have a good day", "I need so loud" (when you want the iPad volume turned up), "I do it myself" (this is a constant thing for you right now). When we drive by tall buildings (offices or apartment buildings, you always comment, "a lot of people's in them". You are still pretty demanding and when you want something, you typically say in a demanding voice, "you understand me?" (something you hear us say to you often).
You are pretty much potty trained! The first weekend after your birthday was our first weekend without some type of extracurricular activity, so I decided we would do intense potty training. Fortunately, the weather was nice and hot, so we spent most of the day that Saturday and Sunday outside playing in the pool and slip-n-slide. It didn't take long for you to catch on to using the potty, especially with "Cars" stickers and mini-marshmallows as potty rewards. You're pretty proud of yourself after using the potty and immediately ask for your "smarshmallow" (one for pee peeing, two for pooping on the potty).
You love to watch trucks on "YouTube Kids" and will lay on the floor or sit at the table with your chin propped on your hands. Your favorite movies are still any of the Disney Cars movies as well as Despicable Me 3 (you call it "spickable me").
You love to play outside - especially driving your tractor around the yard. You will drive it for hours, until the battery runs out...and you are a really great driver too, it's pretty impressive how you can maneuver around different obstacles. You often chase after birds trying to pet them, saying "come here bird, I pet you".
You can be a bit of a stinker at times. You've gotten in trouble at daycare twice in the last month. Once for doing shooters at people and saying "pew pew" (most of the boys in your class are doing this, so it wasn't just you who got in trouble). The other time was for pulling the fire alarm!! A first for the daycare. The teachers had reminded you several times not to touch the fire alarm. They turned their back on you for a second and you felt it was a good time to lift the cover and pull the alarm. The alarm went off, everyone had to evacuate the building, and the fire department responded! You had to go to the director's office for a "talk" - I don't think you'll be doing that again because the noise scared you pretty bad.
You sometimes have a hard time listening. When you're not listening, we'll ask you to turn on your ears. You'll put your hands to your ears, twist them while making a clicking sound with your tongue to "turn them on". You usually listen a little better once you've turned them on. :-)
You're mini, but mighty! You are fairly small for your age (both in height and weight), but you make up for it with your strength, balance, and coordination. It's pretty impressive! At your three year check-up, you weighed about 27.5 lbs and were just under 3 feet tall. We aren't exactly sure where you fall on the growth charts, but we think it's under the 10th percentile.
You started swimming lessons over the winter (parent/tot lessons) and recently moved up to independent lessons. You are getting more confident in the water and don't mind getting water on your face as much as you used to.
You know how to spell your name, know the alphabet and recognize many letters, and can count to 20! You also love to sing - Wheels on the Bus, Row Row Row Your Boat, and Itsy Bitsy Spider are your favorite songs. You taught us a new version of Row, Row, Row your boat (you must have learned it at day care) --- "Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. If you see an alligator, don't forget to scream....ahhhh!"
You love your sister - and while you're usually really sweet to her (telling her night night every night with a hug, a kiss, and an "I love you, Graecyn"), you also know how to push her buttons like any good brother. :-)
We celebrated your 3rd birthday with a day at Fort Clarkston (an indoor playground) followed by a "Cars" cake and presents at home with just the 4 of us. We also celebrated with the Taylor's when in North Carolina the following week.
Happy, happy birthday, Buster! Thanks for making our lives so fun! I can't wait to see what else you have in store for us! We love you!!
