Dear Nathan,
Today, you turned three. THREE! Don't you remember when you were born? No? Oh, well I do.
You were so calm, so quiet. That first night in the hospital I remember holding you, thinking about how perfect you were. I needed to put you down for something, and I was so scared that you would cry.
But you didn't.
And I was shocked.
"But babies are supposed to cry," I thought to myself.
Not you. You just laid down in your little cradle, stared at me with your handsome little face and waited until I could pick you back up. And I did.
Of course, you LOVED to be held. But usually, if I needed you to be a little flexible with me, you would allow it. You were always so calm, so 'go with the flow', so... EASY!
Everyone would always tell me that you were such a good baby! So sweet, so well behaved and content.
I used to always tell myself that I'd better be ready because my next child wasn't going to be nearly as easy going as you were. (And oh how right I was.)
And now, you're three.
Your moments of calm have mostly seemed to vanish.
You are a big boy now, and you love to tell me that.
You LOVE to jump. Jump from the couch, the dining room chairs, the bed, just about anything. We got you a trampoline for your birthday this year, and I can't wait for you to open it. You are going to wear that thing out!
You love to color. For a while, your favorite crayon to color with was black, and I was a little worried. I'd offer you different colors, but you'd just say "No thank you," and keep coloring with your little black crayon. But now you use all the colors. You draw us beautiful pictures! Right now, your favorite thing to draw is our family. And I love it too.
You love reading books! Right now, your favorite ones are I Love You Through and Through, and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I'm pretty sure that you would have us stay in your room and read books all day long if you could.
YOU'RE POTTY TRAINED!!! Well, mostly. You still have an occasional accident here and there, (mostly at nap time) but you are doing AWESOME! You were so resistant to potty train, but once we got serious about it, you were pretty much trained in 24 hours.
You are such a stud.
You still love playing "Ready, Set, Go!" with Daddy. Although it seems like every time you play, you change the rules on him. You're very sneaky that way, you always have to keep us guessing!
You love your little sister. She is your little buddy and definitely your parnter in crime. You guys play together so well! I love watching you read to her, color together, and even wrestle. You are fairly gentle with her, and whenever she gets hurt, you're always ready to sing her a song to help her feel better.
And you know what? It usually works.
Speaking of singing, you are such a good singer! You love to sing songs and listen to music all the time. At night before you go to bed, we have to sing our family medley every night. It starts with I am a Child of God, then we sing the chorus from Strange Things are Happening to me, then we sing the chorus of You've Got a Friend in Me, and we end with the chorus of Lovely Love my Family.
Your singing voice is the best.
You love to be Mommy or Daddy's helper. You hand us dishes from the dishwasher to put away, help put clothes into the dryer, clean up your toys, vacuuming, you love helping with pretty much whatever you can.
You are doing so good with learning your letters! You know pretty much all of them and you like pointing them out. You can also count to 15, sometimes 20.
You love when I scratch your back. Whenever I stop you look at me and say, "No, Mommy! Keep scratching mine back! I love it!" Sometimes I stop just so I can hear you say that.
You have moved from your crib and into a big boy bed. Which means you no longer take naps, although truthfully you probably haven't taken regular naps at all since about January. But that's okay, you still go in your room and play quietly with your toys for about two hours. I love listening to you over the monitor and hearing all of the cute things you say to your toys.
But I also love those rare days when you actually do take a nap.
So far, you haven't ever put up much of a fight before bed time. I think you enjoy winding down with a bath, then brushing your teeth and reading stories and singing songs before bed. Just about every night before bed, you'll gently grab my face and softly whisper "Mommy, you a princess!" and it makes my heart melt. I've tried telling you that you're a prince, or a king, or something fancy like that, but you always respond, "No, Mommy. I a big boy!" So now that's what I tell you. "And you're a big boy!"
You always get a giant smile of satisfaction on your face.
You love every single member of your family. You remember everyone, and love to go and visit them. You love talking to family on the phone, and the first thing you always ask is "What you doing?"
You also love animals...maybe a little too much. Especially Daisy and our new kitty Clarabelle. You love picking Clarabelle up, holding her, shutting her in your room with you, chasing her around the house, trying to sit on her, etc. But the funny thing is, I think she kinda likes it too. She almost never runs away and has only scratched you once. In fact, usually when we come home or first thing in the morning after you wake up, you always call for her and she comes running up to you right away.
You love being outside. Whether it's just exploring in our backyard, helping us work in the yard, playing in the pool or at your water table, riding your bike, going to the park, or just taking a walk, you love it. You love pointing out the horses by our house, and watching all the dogs that get walked in our neighborhood.
You love to talk and tell stories! You almost always have something to say, and sometimes you get so excited to tell someone something that I think your brain is working faster than your mouth can move!
The thought of you waiting for me quietly, patiently to do what I need to do seems almost like a dream. But as much as I loved the baby that you were, I love the big boy that you are becoming every day just as much, if not even more. You are such a special little guy, and SO MUCH FUN! You do like to keep us on our toes, but we wouldn't have it any other way. You are such a smart little guy, and you learn so much every day, but I think you might be teaching us even more. We are so thankful to have you as our Nathan and we look forward to watching you grow even more!
We love you to infinity... and beyond!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
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