1, 2, THREE

Max is THREE!

I'm just going to take a moment to spill all I can here before I forget!

He is a big boy, but still little.  He sleeps in a big boy bed.  Gives me kisses when I ask, real pucker kisses.  If I try to walk out of his room at bedtime without letting him kiss me too he will remind me, "kiss mommy, kiss mommy!"  He asks for a "huuuuug" at least 10x a day!

He says funny things.  If you ask him a question like, "Max do you want bee cereal for breakfast?" he will not say "yes",  he will say, "bee cereal, k"  (as in "bee cereal, okay").  Honestly I can't even think of him ever saying the word "yes".  He just repeats what he wants do to and then adds a "k".  It just cracks me up.  He will nod though sometimes.  "Go outside, k", "put on shoes, k", "drink of milk, k".

He sings songs.  He really was more of a "dance along while other people sing" person.  But lately he's been singing his ABC's (he's got the rhythm down, the letters get a little unclear in the middle), twinkle twinkle, and my favorite is Row Row Row Your Boat.  He sticks his spoon and fork in each side of his high chair and moves them back and forth while singing, "Row, row, row your boat. . . ."  my favorite part is the "Merrily, merrily merrily. . .".  He even made up a song, it goes, "Lullaby, Lullaby, close your eyes. . ." so sweet.

He loves to "see friends", especially at our playground.  He talks about his friends a lot.  Especially Sylvia, Gordon, Ruby and Caleb.  He is very polite, he will always correct himself if he forgets to say please (with a reminder :)).  Often when he is playing with a toy that someone else gave him he will look at me and say, "Thank you Grandma!" or "Thank you Aunt Jessica" or "Thank you (name of whoever gave him the present)"  along with the sign for "Thank you".  I should add it sounds more like "ankch you".  He received Candy Land from his friend Ruby for his birthday and calls it "Ruby's game" and adds "Thank you Ruby!". The other day he found a pair of bright green sunglasses he received in a del Taco kids meal and told us, "Thank you Tacos!".

He can now pedal his trike a little bit and jump off of two feet.  He can even climb the big ladder at the University Hills park and go down the tall slide.  We've been going to this park a lot off and on over the years and I couldn't believe he was finally big enough to do that.  It was always sort of something he didn't notice because he wasn't be enough but just two weeks ago, he tried it and just kept doing it over and over.

He likes to cook with me and watch what I'm doing in the kitchen.  He still likes his "people" or Little People and Trains.  He received a Batman play set for his birthday and loves playing batman, especially with daddy.  It was a little surreal for me to watch him playing with such big boy toys.

He likes our daily routine.  He really likes being with mommy.  After a year and a half of just running to nursery at church he suddenly got really clingy and also will put up a little fuss going over to someones house to play if he knows I'm leaving, but he seems to be a little better over the last couple weeks.  It seemed like just a phase.  He loves to eat dry cereal and milk.  He also likes pizza, hot dogs, and "treats".  At the grocery store or at Target I'll sort of be talking to myself and say "hmm, what else do we need".  He'll always have an answer.  He'll put his little hand up to his face and point with one finger and say, "ummm, hot dogs!" or "ummm, stickers!".  (by stickers he means band-aids).  He'll fake an owie just for a band-aid.

He likes to watch Disney Jr. online and also Phineas and Ferb on Netflix.  We've started potty training and I let him pick out two packs of underwear.  The store had seriously EVERY character imaginable and he chose Phineas and Ferb for both.  He will ask to wear his Spiderman shirt every day but unfortunately most days it's in the laundry.

He loves his little brother.  It's been an adjustment for him to have Sean crawling and pulling up in the last month.  Sean wants to be right where Max is but of course Max needs his space sometimes.  Max will always bring him his baby toys and with a little coaxing will share his toys.  They like to yell back and forth at each other, Max: "Bah!" Sean: "BAAAAH" Max: "rrrrraaaaaarrrr" Sean "rah rah rah!" it's cute.  They wrestle and giggle together.  The other day I asked Max, "Isn't it fun having a little brother?" and he got wide-eyed, nodded and said, "yeaaaah!!".  Just today he told me Sean is "so hass-som" (handsome).

He was looking at a photo of Jared and I kissing in front of the temple on our wedding day and when I asked him who was in the picture he said, "Sleeping Beauty!".

He loves books and the library.  Some recent favorites are "A Cake all for Me" by Karen Magnuson Beil and "From Head to Toe" by Eric Carle.

He still sleeps with his stuffed Woody, Curious George or Corduroy, "Corder Bear" every night.

I love you Max!  You are sweet, cuddly, handsome, mischievious, stubborn, funny, silly, crazy boy and I love every bit of you!