Dear William,
On January 8, 2015, you turned 3 years and 1 one month old.
Statistics and Developments:
You were measured at the doctor’s office as being 42″ tall and weighing 42 pounds. You are in size 4T pants and shorts and size 5T shirts and footed pajamas.
Developments:
I’ve found it very helpful, before we get out of the car to go in anywhere, to communicate in detail what we’re planning to do, and what I expect you to do. For example, we’ve implemented a change this month… before, after we had eaten at a restaurant, we allowed you to run on the sidewalk outside the restaurant, supervised of course, and as long as it wasn’t super busy. However, we realized that was causing an inconsistency in caregivers allowances and causing you confusion, since Grandma D. doesn’t let you do that. So now, I’ve told you, “After we eat, we cannot run on the sidewalk. However, if you need to run, you may tell me that and request to go to a park.” Then when we go to the park, I tell you that when I ask you to leave, I expect you to tell me, “Thank you for taking me to the park, mommy.” And to leave without any troublesome truck shenanigans. Incorporating Thomas the Train lingo has been very useful!
When we went to Walmart, you requested to walk (rather than being carried or put in a cart). You held my hand the entire time we went through the store and really enjoyed walking along beside me. Your father shared with me that he took you to Walmart and you were singing a Christmas song and you stopped mid-lyric, and someone rounded the corner and finished the song for you. Because no one can leave a song unfinished.
Firsts:
First time you rode on a roller coaster!
First time you blew your nose.
First time you blew out your own birthday candles… and wanted to blow out the Advent candles. Before blowing them, you asked if they were birthday candles.
First time you blew your harmonica successfully.
First time having orange juice. We made it freshly squeezed with a juicer!
Sleep & Health:
You were sick earlier this month and spent the night before your birthday party waking up every few hours because your nose was so stuffed up. I was worried about your party the next day, but you were a champ and had a total blast.
Then, you got sick again after Christmas and ended up with a fever, double ear infection, bilateral conjunctivitis and acute sinusitis. That landed you with a doctor visit and a prescription for antibiotics. Even though it was exhausting, because you woke up several times in the night and I ended up sleeping in your bed, it was a treasure to be able to hold you in the night and just by my presence there somehow make you feel more reassured.
Nourishment & Nursing:
Your obsession with candy canes has continued this month. You also were interested in frozen blueberries this month… it’s been awhile for those.
Nursing is about the same as last month. You still really enjoy nursing time and I’m so grateful that we were able to experience a 4th nursing Christmas vacation with you.
Things we Did this Month:
12/13 – your 3rd birthday party
12/14 – day (mostly) with mommy
12/22 – Legoland (with Mommy)
12/23 – 12/26, hung out with family for Christmas
Things I want to remember:
When I asked you if you are you a big airplane? You replied, “No, I’m a little airplane.”
You have become a somewhat emphatic communicator this month, and you told me one night that, “If you don’t give me a candy cane you will be in big trouble!”
You were feeding your father one evening at dinner, and it was so funny because you were an “empathetic eater,” opening your mouth as wide as you wanted him to open his.
We introduced glow sticks in the bath tub this month, and it was fun to see what your imagination made of them. One evening, as you dipped them in and out of the water, they were whales and dolphins.
We also introduced bath salts this month, and you think it’s great fun to dump a tube of epsom salts in the water and then watch them dissolve away.
I love listening to your medleys of Christmas songs, some of them stopping mid-song, others with your invented words and yet others when you get stuck on the lyrics and repeat them over and over again.
How, on all our Christmas musical decoration items, you know just how many times to push the button to get to the song you want to hear.
How when you father got sick and slept on the couch over Christmas, you brought him all your toys and laid them out all over his body. With every toy you placed, you exclaimed, “That didn’t wake him up!” And then you went off in search of another toy. He had quite a pile of toys on him by the time you were done, and he didn’t wake up from any of it.
One of the days in December, I was home sick. Your grandma D. came over to take you to your MyGym class. About 45 minutes in advance, I gave you a heads up that she was coming over. You crawled on my lap and frantically nursed, switching sides and saying every time you switched, “I’ve got to nurse before Grandma gets here.” It was hilarious… and when grandma got here, you (remarkably) left with her with no problem, but asked me several times if I would be here when you got back.
One of my symptoms was laryngitis… so, I was whisper reading your books to you, and paraphrasing them because they are too many words. You started whispering back to me. One morning, in my whisper voice, I told you, “You’re a sweetpea.” You replied, insulted, “I’m not a pee pee, mommy!”
Sitting here, you finished your yogurt. I asked you to hand me your spoon to get the last bits of it out of the container, and you turned your head, spoon still in your mouth, along with a grin and handed your spoon to me with your mouth.
How sweet you are to our cats. We took one of our cats to the vet earlier this month, and all the way there, you were reassuring her, “It’s going to be OK, Buggy. The vet is going to make you better. Do you hear the crickets, Buggy?” We got there, and came in the door and you told the receptionists, “Here’s Buggy. She needs to get better, OK?” I was holding you as you noticed their Christmas tree and you looked at it for a minute and then asked them, “Where are the cats?” It was only dog ornaments. The lady came around to show you their 3 measly cat ornaments and you were slightly appeased, and she reached to hold you, saying “You’re so cute!” You pulled back into me and gave her a frowny face with the imperative statement of, “I’m not the cat.” You pointed at Buggy in her carrier and said, “That’s the cat. SHE needs to get better, not me.”
How when we took you to the doctor, all the way into his office, despite how ill you were, you were dancing along saying, “Yay! Yay! Yay! I’m going to the doctor! He’s going to make me feel better!”
When we went to my doctor, you told him, “Mommy doesn’t feel good. You need to make her feel better.”
Then when we went to my doctor a second time, you were playing with your toys and I went to get in my car to leave. You hustled yourself out into the garage, opened my car door, moved my purse off your seat and got into your car seat. You informed me, in no uncertain terms, that you were going with me. I told you I was going to a boring place with a bunch of sick people and that the wait would be long and there would be no toys. You still insisted you were going with me. Helpless, I looked to your father, and he said he would meet us there to watch you. When we got there, you looked around and then asked me, “Are all these people sick?” You actually did really well waiting, but when I went back to see the doctor, you didn’t understand that you didn’t get to go back to see the doctor with me and you got very upset about it. I felt badly that we hadn’t prepared you better for that.
At gymnastics, you were afraid to do a flip up on the high bar. But after the 2nd day, you let Mr. Steve help you and you did it. And the feeling of accomplishment you had in yourself, huge smile every time you saw it on the video that your Grandma took of it.
Then, for the next two days, you created “skill stations” around the house. One of the more hilarious skill stations involved you sitting on a cat scratching post and narrating, “OK, so, COME ON UP HERE, MOMMY! So you sit here, put your head here and your hands here and lean this way. Are you trusting me?” And me, shaking so hard from laughing, because really? You just had a cat post up your butt and did not look comfortable in any way.
You pull out the packaging air bubbles and jump on them and make a huge popping noise.
Conversation: Excuse me, William, why are you holding your penis. You replied, as you moved your hands, I’m not; I’m holding my knees. Me, Oh, excuse me… an obvious case of mistaken identity.
How cute it was that when we went to the pet store for cat food, they gave us a bag of cat toys. Fascinated, you inquired about them. We told you they were Christmas presents for the cats. You proceeded to point at each toy and specify which toy was for which cat. Snuggy (aka Grumpy) rated 3 toys. And, when we asked you later about the toys, you specified the same exact ones for each cat.
You got your first bee sting a couple months ago, and every time we go to that park and you see that slide, you carefully examine the slide and ask, “That bee’s not gonna sting me, right?” This actually makes me sad that you are scared of the slides because of the bees.
You like to tell me when you’re singing songs that, “I’m singing handsome.”
How you informed us one night, “I’m growing taller and taller and soon I’ll be daddy. When I’m daddy, I’ll sleep in daddy’s bed and I’ll be as tall as the fan. And soon I’ll be able to turn on Cars movie!” That last part is especially funny, because we use a projector and the on button for it is way up high above our heads.
You also really enjoy rinsing the dishes off so they can go into the dishwasher, and one evening while you were doing that you told me, “Someday, I’m going to scoop cat poop, too, just like daddy!” This, I’m sure, thrills your father beyond words.
You also love juicing oranges and making orange juice. And then you want to put a banana in it and press the button on the blender. You hear the juicer and come running as fast as you can!
We found board books shaped like vehicles with wheels and everything at Target. You had one of a school bus when you were 12 months old from your godmother, but it disappeared somewhere. We were thrilled to find these and they are one of your favorite toys.
How at the end of Christmas day, you told me, “I’m sad about Christmas, I’m crying about Christmas.” When I asked you why, you said, “Is my train table going away?” I said no, you get to keep it. Apparently, you thought that because Christmas was over, Santa was going to come and take all your new toys away. Also, apparently, Santa isn’t the giver of toys, but the taker of toys.
As we walked out to the car after Christmas, you saw Christmas lights in the distance and asked to go look at Christmas lights… and the big, big snowman. You remembered one of the yards we saw last year had a big snowman in it. It seemed like a good ending to Christmas Day, so we did indeed go look at Christmas lights.
Before your bath one evening, you stood in the hallway, one toy in each hand. You moved one toy up and down and said to the other toy, “You eat your dinner right now!” The other toy wiggled up and down, “No! I don’t want turkey and cheese. I want candy canes for dinner.”
How you’ve been intentionally singing “customized” lyrics to Christmas songs and it’s just hilarious. Like, “Hark the Harold Angels Swing, no, they don’t swing, say they don’t swing, mommy.” They don’t swing, William. You will grin, and then sing more robustly, “HARK THE HERALD ANGELS RUN! HAHAHA Say they don’t run, mommy.” Angels don’t run, William. Then, you switch it up, “The first Snowelle, The angels did say, was to certain poor people, haha, in fields as they lay. Snowelle, Snowelle, Snowelle, Say it’s not Snowelle, it’s NOEL, mommy!”
How you fake sneeze on pictures of tissue boxes in the coupon pages.
When I told you I was sick, you started to cry. You said you were crying because I’m sick. 😦 I think it was because earlier in December when I was sick, I lost my voice. You were so sad that I couldn’t sing you to sleep at night, as was I. it’s one of our favorite things to do, is sing together.
How, after Christmas was over, you keep asking me if you have any more presents. You also wanted to call your cousins to tell them goodbye and tell them thank you for playing with you.
How much you loved seeing and playing with your cousins… we did so many things with them, from running around, to jumping in the bounce house, to sticker pictures, and playing with Christmas presents with them together. The holidays were such a special time this year.
In the bath tub, you started to cry when I told you it was time to clean up. I told you I was sorry, I knew you were having fun, but it really was time. I explained that mommy was tired and not feeling well and I needed to go to bed, too. I gave you a hug and patiently nudged you through the clean up. After we got you out and you were snuggled in your towel on my lap, you leaned into me and kissed my cheek and told me, “Thank you, mommy. I’m doing better now.”
How you love any sort of art project, from painting, to coloring, using animal stamps, and sticker pictures.
How one morning I was nursing you in the dark… I was dressed for work, complete with dangly earrings that clanged softly when I moved my head. You unlatched to ask, “What is that sound?” When I told you it was my earrings, you replied, “No, it’s a train coming!” Apparently, to you, it sounded like the bell at a train track crossing.
One night, after your bath, you stood in front of me with your towel wrapped around you. You put your finger in your belly button and pushed it in. You told me, “It’s going downstairs.” When it popped out again, you said, “It’s upstairs now.”
How one day I told you we were going to try for a nap. I headed upstairs with you following, and on the stairs you walked partially up them and then reached your hands out and slid back down on your belly, telling me while you did so, “These stairs are slippery, mommy, I can’t come upstairs!”
We made mashed potatoes together and you sat on the counter as I told you what I was putting in them. Some salt, some pepper, some butter. You were “so exciting” about them and you hurried over to the table and asked for a fork to eat them with. As you pulled them up from your plate, you looked at them and said, “A little salt, some pepper and a lot of butter because butter makes everything better.” I put a little more salt on them and you said, “To make them sparkley?” I guess the salt sparkled at you. haha
We did our annual tradition of making gingerbread cookies together… and you loved it just as much this year as you did last year.
How sweet you are when you ask me to sleep in your bed with you and I reply that I can’t, you have the sweetest and saddest little “Ohhhhh…” to reply with. And the first morning that we all went back to work after the holiday break, Grandma D. told me you ran into our bedroom, climbed under the covers and buried yourself in them, as if you were seeking a hug from us.
And then, how this morning, when we were leaving for work, you said you wanted to wave bye-bye to us instead of watching a movie when we left. You were so brave, I knew you wanted to go with us, or not have us leave at all. But you went outside with Grandma and watched us leave and I saw your eyes well up with tears. And I thought to myself, that sometimes… sometimes, little boy, it’s OK not to be brave. Sometimes it’s OK to just be 3.
Love you,
Momma
Jammie J's Quest 