My Little Man Is Three

Dear Lucas,

You are three today, THREE! All I can say about that is: thank goodness we survived the twos! And survive we did, some days I wonder how we got through though! Oh those strong emotions of a 2 yr old when things just don't go your way. Oh the meltdowns. Oh the crying and crying. Oh the fits when someone did something for you that you wanted to do. Yes we survived it all. And gradually those meltdowns happened less frequently until one day I noticed they just weren't happening anymore! You're a sensitive one, so you still cry. But the brief bouts of crying are nothing compared with the meltdowns of a year ago. Most mornings I would wake up and ask for a day with no meltdowns please!

But you are growing up now so it has become a little easier to reason with you. You are still fiercely independent and really want to do everything and anything yourself. You like to pull a chair up to the kitchen counter and help with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I think back over the past year and realize how much you've grown and the things you've learned.

You potty-trained right after turning two; although 'trained' is very loosely used. You pretty much did it yourself, I had the easiest job of 'training' you because I didn't actually have to do anything. One day you just decided you wanted to wear underwear and that was that. Thank you for that! Still working on the night time dryness, but you'll get there!


You've learned shapes, colors, numbers, and letters. You can count to 13ish and sing the Alphabet song. You count objects and have a grasp of one-to-one correspondence. You have an understanding of opposites and can tell us the opposite of most things. You enjoy puzzles, dress-up, trains, balls, and blocks. You can verbally spell your first name as well as write it, along with several other letters.

You get dressed and undressed by yourself. Its so nice to be able to send you upstairs to "go get dressed" and have you come back downstairs fully dressed!

You like to race and get so upset if Kayla finishes something before you saying "I don't want Kayla to win me." You've taken the sentence, "I win/won!" and expanded it to "I winned you!" 

You are inquisitive and want to know how everything works and what everything is. You like to figure things out.

You are a stickler for our morning routine. After we bring Kayla to school and come back home we have breakfast then you snuggle up on the couch with a blanket and your whale and watch Curious George. I wonder how long you'll hold on to that beloved whale.

You crack me up with the things you say every day. You are so matter-of-fact sometimes. One day, after getting home from dropping Kayla off at school, I parked the van but didn't get out right away. I was looking for something that fell between the seats and kept saying I couldn't find it and wondering where it went. You said, "How about you let me out of this seat first?"

I love our conversations and your imagination - you can tell some pretty wild stories!

You can't wait for Kayla to get home from school, but then when she does you guys just seem to fight! You hate when she goes in her room and locks the door. The other day you had such a sad-sounding cry as you were standing at her door pleading, "Kayla let me in please." Then the heart breaker, "I don't have my best friend to play with!"

Some of your common sayings are:
Anything that happened in the past you refer to as "a long, long, long time ago" or "last morning." I'm going to miss when you stop saying things like, "We just did that last morning."
"That's a good idea."
"I want to save it to later" (instead of save it for later)
"Who are those people? What are their names?"
When I laugh you ask, "What's so funny?" When I say, "You!" you say, "Me again?"

You love to ride your bike around the block and made a very easy transition from riding a trike to a bike with training wheels.

I'm amazed at some of the things you remember - even things that happened 6 months ago.

You love going to "Rolly Pollies school" and MOPS. I'm so glad the very early separation anxiety you had at MOPS didn't last at all. You love making friends and playing with the other kids.

You enjoy our nighttime routine of reading books before bed. I love listening to you 'read' a story by memorization and/or by the pictures on the page. Your favorite book to read is "Oops" by Sandra Boynton.

You are still my little shadow. When its just you and I hanging out at home you have to be in every room that I'm in. There is a whole loft upstairs filled with toys, yet you very rarely will go up there and play by yourself. I guess you like your mom's company.

You automatically reach for my hand when we're out somewhere; and I love that and know I'll miss it when you stop doing that.

I know there is still so much more to what you've done and learned in your 2's but I think this 'letter' to you is quite long enough!

Here's to you my boy. My big 3 year old. Because as you would say, "I'm not a baby!"

Happy birthday Lucas. Iloveyougoodnight (as you like to say!)