Three Years!

My little man is THREE! I can hardly believe it was three years ago that we met him – the time has gone by so fast, yet I can hardly remember life without him in it!

He’s definitely asserting his independence and is proving that the terrible twos were not really so terrible compared to what’s in store with the ‘threes’  :)  He has also mastered the art of 'stalling' and knows exactly how to manipulate us (me especially).He says the cutest things though to make up for it: the other morning after a particularly trying day the day before - he said to me when he first got up "mama, im not gonna give you a hard time, mama, I give you kiss hug and you go to work”

…what a sweet little soul he has!

He is so thoughtful and a great helper, always trying to help syd out by trying to suggest things that might make her happy, or talking to her to calm her down when she gets upset after I leave the room etc.  he brings her toys and generally plays with her really well, even shares his yogurt with her at meal times….

he adores his sister…

He’s always trying to teach her new things…

He is always thinking….and I swear he NEVER forgets anything….so we cant make any empty promises with this kid!  :) 

He’s also always relating things to each other - we told him he'd be going to kindergarten soon and he asked "like kinderplaats?"  (from where we took him during tulip time @ the beginning of May)

He spotted a bag of liccorice at the cottage and grandma was telling him they were liccorice bites - he looks at her and asks "like when I'm fishing and a fish bites my pole, that kind of bite?"

He never ceases to amaze us with the funny, crazy things he says….and I try to keep a running list in google docs just to keep track of the cuteness so I can remember in down the road in a few years.  some of the most recent things he’s said are: 

He was downstairs with papa getting a shirt out of the laundry....papa was trying to get him to wear a button down shirt like him and owen said "i don't wanna wear a shirt like that, I'm just already handsome"

on his birthday, i told him happy birthday when i woke him up and got him ready, etc.  A little while later while I was still getting ready, he said, "mama, when I got up you said happy birthday? "  I told him "yup, its your birthday", he said in a very excited whisper "when?" i told him today, he said "i'm three now? I was 2 a long time ago, but now I'm three" as he held up three fingers

Was with Gran one saturday and they were in the car..he wanted her to open something for him and she said, "you'll have to wait until we get home, I'm driving the car" to which he replied "but mama can" gran said, "I know, your mama is special", he said "yeah, she can even touch the sky

he was asking when we would be at the cottage on the way up and scott told him, we have to go over the river and through the woods, he goes "oh, like snowmen and santa claus, and fa lalalala?"

has picked up the word "poopy" from another kid at school in the preschool room and says it all the time - and since he knows its not nice to say - he will say 'foofy' instead and then when i tell him not to say it he'll say - “but I'm saying foofy, mama!”

got him a tackle box – which he calls his '’taco box’

Calls mountain dew "mama do"

pronounces kiwi "kew wew"

He is pretty much potty trained during the day – not during the night quite yet.  and still not potty trained with pooping…he still insists on doing it in his diaper.  crazy kid! but we’ll get there!

Is still doing great in the preschool room at school and we plan to enroll him in an actual preschool class starting this coming fall! 

He LOVES to ride his bike, read books, play with toys, swim, go fishing (he caught his first fish over the 4th weekend all by himself, aside from baiting the hook) and his new love is playing with our cell phones…he knows how to operate them pretty well! He loves to play a fishing game that scott and i both have on our phones…he can name so many different fish….and the game lets you take pictures of the fish you catch…here is one of his faves: 

He wants to be just like his papa all the time and its so sweet! here they are sporting some crazy hair together…

they even share the same fashion sense!

And here are some stats: 

He’s growing so big!  He wears about a size 8 shoe, and size 3T or 4T clothes!  He weighs about 36 lbs.  He takes one nap a day now, which is down to about 1 - 1 1/2 hrs.  He goes to bed at about 8:00 and sleeps til 7 on weekdays and 630 (go figure) on weekends….

So what did we do to celebrate his birthday?  Well, on his actual birthday, which was last thursday already, went to the park after work and just let the kids have fun!

  

Gran came with us and so did Uncle Travis and Katy…I think the adults had just as much fun as the kiddos!

To celebrate even more we had a fun night of dinner and fun planned at the park this past Sunday,but Owen spiked an awful fever of 105 on Fri night and it hadn’t gone much under  102 by Saturday afternoon, so in an effort to keep everyone else healthy and to let him get some rest, we decided to cancel his party, poor little guy!  But we’ll have all summer to celebrate his birthday! 

And what birthday would be complete without some froggy buddy pictures?! I can’t believe how much he’s grown! by way of comparison, remember this? 

…or this? 

and now….. 

….such a little man!

We love you buddy; happy THIRD birthday!!

Summertime Fun…

I’m not so good at keeping up with blogging!!! too much happens and then i never know where to start back up!

I’ll start with Memorial Day weekend….we headed up to the cottage for the first time since last summer with the kiddos. We spent the weekend with Grandma and Grampy and had an awesome time!

Sydney got to ride in her carseat facing forward for the first time and she thought she was HOT stuff! She looks really tired in this pic….and fell asleep not long after it was taken and slept most of the way up.

Owen drew pictures on the way up and kept himself very busy!

Pretty much as soon as we got there, the boys headed out fishing….Owen just loves to cast and reel in his line…he thinks its great to help papa reel in his fish too!

and he loves to check them out! Syd wasn’t afraid, she LOVED feeling the fish And just hanging out with papa while he fished… On Sunday morning, the woodstove had been on since it was super chilly, and Owen was playing after breakfast – and all of a sudden ran over crying and holding his hand up – we figured out pretty quicklywhat had happened, he touched the woodstove (later we found out he put his hand on the glass) – poor little man….for the first two hours, he just sobbed and screamed – then suddenly, he was magically better and wanted to go out fishing again, and we never heard one more complaint about his hand either, what a brave tough little guy!! So proud of his fish! Syd kind of liked the boat ride, but only when I would let her stand up and check things out…..she did not like being held…she just wanted to roam around and do her own thing… Soooooooooooo proud to sit with papa and help drive! fishing with papa’s snoopy pole from when he was a little boy!

Sydney loved the bubbles! Chillin with papa… Big boy sleeping on a big boy bed at the cottage! Littles goofin around….

She thought she was soooooo cool sitting up on the big chair!

Owen with his little buddy the crawfish! So that was the cottage trip….and I know I’m missing a lot in the middle here, but the next ‘batch’ of pics I had were of Owen this past week roasting marshmallows at home!

Scott had a fire going in the backyard, so we thought it would be fun to roast hotdogs and then marshmallows for s’mores for dessert. Owen was so proud of himself; but was a little scared of the fire at first – because of burning himself at the cottage….so we got some nice LONG sticks and let him use those to roast his marshmallows….he loved it!!

So excited to try his s’more!

“this is delicious”

mmmmm…..

….A big event in littles’ life was last Tues, when she got tubes….we had to be at the hospital at 6:45 am, which was about an hour before surgery …and she was SUCH a trooper, especially since she hadn’t eaten since before bed the night before…..she was so good at first but then toward the end, she got a little feisty….poor littles!

She did soooo good though and spent the day with papa, and took two great naps and was in a pretty good mood all day! At her checkup this week, she got the all clear that everything looked great!!

We’ve been doing a lot of baths in the sink lately…its easier than the tub, and the kids think its so cool! Plus, I can get stuff done in the kitchen while they are playing in there; talk about multitasking! :)

Owen always likes to be held like a baby after his bath…look at my ‘little’ baby!

little miss syd, eatin her snacky of goldfish and drinkin some milk….its about the only time I can set her down and actually leave her sight without her crying…such a mama’s girl! Syd has been progressing slowly but surely with building strength in her legs. She has just started to shuffle along furniture a few steps or so….A friend from work brought a little wagon/cart that her daughter had learned to walk behind. it has a wider base and is heavier than some of the other push behind toys, so she can have more control of it and not have it roll out ahead of her too far…it became the hit toy of the house….syd did try to walk behind it a few times…but she mostly likes to bring her trucks and crawl inside it and play….and Owen LOVES to push her around in it, he is so proud of himself…. :)

I don’t know what I was thinking, but I gave syd some chocolate pudding after dinner one day..she typically does ok with a spoon...and had started eating it just fine with her spoon….but i was doing some paperwork at the table and looked over at her and this is what I saw…apparently the spoon just wasn’t shoveling it in fast enough for her, so she started scooping with her hands…..

She is also soooo proud of herself…little goober! So…Owen is officially in the preschool room starting this week at ‘school’ He did really good with the transition…it was definitely a transition though and it took him a while to get used to the fact that he wasn’t going into ‘his’ room (the toddler) room anymore…and we had our share of times where he just didn’t want me to leave him…but ultimately, he was such a big boy about it and is now so happy to let me drop him off and he has such a good time in there…..As a little thank you for his three teachers in the toddler room, we did some cutouts of owen’s hands and made a fun little ‘hug card’ Owen was so proud of it! So, not only is he now in the big kid room at school, but my little man is well on his way to being potty trained! he will stay dry all day long and tell us he has to go…he still wears a diaper at night but some mornings he wakes up dry and waits to get to the toilet to go! He still wants to put a diaper on to go poop; has only gone in the toilet once…but I’m sure we’ll get there soon!!! My little boy is growing up so fast!!! He is going to be THREE in under two weeks!!! I just can’t believe it!!!

So in keeping with Owen’s fascination and love of fishing, Scott took him to a fishing derby that the church right by our house put on in their pond. They stocked the pond with all kinds of trout and other fish…and Owen had an absolute ball hangin out with papa and fishing!!! Since the derby, Scott has been going down to the pond and catching some trout, one night he caught 12 of them!!! looks like we’re gonna have a yummy fish-fry in our future!!! In the 90ish degree weather we’ve been having lately, we’ve taken full advantage of our little kiddie pool!! The other day, Grand, Syd, Owen, and I all spent about an hour in there…it was so fun!! Sydney thinks she can just jump off our laps and has no fear whatsoever, but owen is much more cautious in the water, but since we’ve been in the pool, he’s definitely tried to do a lot more ‘swimming’ around and seems to be getting used to it!! I hope he feels the same way about the lake later this summer!!! :)

We also filled our other kiddie pool up with sand and let the kids have some fun in there…syd’s first time in the sandbox…at first she was a little annoyed and kept trying to brush off her hands, but the she realized how much fun she could have digging and scooping sand into buckets after her brother showed her how…and she started to like it! :)

Since Father’s day was last weekend, the kids and I made him a fun little picture that he could hang up on his tool bench at work….we traced and cut out all of our hands and put them on top of each other…it turned out really cute and Papa loved it!! :

Well, that’s about all of my random ramblings for now….I’m sure the next post will be all about a certain little THREE year old!! :)