Little Dude is 3!

I love this picture of Little Dude that we took the other day at the beach. I can't believe how much he has grown during the last year. Two seemed so old, and yet he is now a genuine little boy and not a baby anymore (as he assures us every day when we ask him). For one thing, his language skills have totally blossomed. I remember worrying for so long because he didn't talk and wasn't as verbal as his sister had been. Now he sings songs, tells jokes, and tells me little stories. He even impresses us by remember songs from movies or quotes from stories and nursery rhymes. Lately he's been telling everyone "my birthday is May 28 and I will be three". He's also shown some interest in writing; I haven't sat down to work with him on it, but last month he suddenly announced "I write my name" and wrote it down. We should work more on his letters this summer and see if we can get him to learn how to write. He knows his alphabet and can count to at least twenty. He is not a big fan of watching television or of reading books, but often asks to play computer games like his big sister. They play together a lot, and fight together a lot, but they really love each other. He eagerly looks forward to picking her up each day from kindergarten, and one of the reasons he's stopped taking naps is because she gets home from school at lunch and then he is too excited to take a nap because he wants to play with her. Sharing a room at bedtime has been rocky for them both because he just wants to get in her bed and play, but then she can't go to sleep. If we move her to another room he is just too sad and refuses to even go back into his bedroom at all. We're still trying to figure out the bedtime routine for them.

Little Dude loves to play with cars, trains, and dinosaurs. He takes good care of his stuffed animal friends by putting them to bed and making them pretend food. He also has an alter ego he created called "Running Boy". He will put on his cape and tell us he is "Running Boy" and zip around the house. Sometimes he adds other elements, like one day he was "Underwater Firefighter Running Boy". His personality has also really blossomed this year and he loves to introduce himself to people and ask them to watch as he runs "really fast". His food tastes have not changed much during the last year. He still doesn't like vegetables and prefers cheese and fruit. He also has a definite sweet tooth; if there is candy in the house I have to hide or he will pester me about it all day. I need to take him in for his check-up, but he seems to be healthy and growing well. We were going to start potty training, but he doesn't seem physically ready and we're going to wait until after our move. I'm excited to see how much changes this next year as we go from three to four. We love our sweet little guy and our so happy he's part of our family!