Landon,
At age 3 you are almost 35 lbs and 37.25 inches tall. You just switched over to size 3 clothes and you are wearing size 4 PJ's. You wear size 8 shoes though you have found a couple too small.
favorite cartoon: Word World
favorite color: black.
favorite things: letters and lights
You are a bright, fearless, mischievous little guy and as wild as any little pre-school boy should be. You love dirt. You literally bathe in it. You make sandcastles in your hair. Dirt Angels, dirt face paint. You pour it down inside your shirt. EVERY TIME you go outside, for 10 minutes or two hours, you need a bath. Its just a known thing. We keep baby wipes and a container to fill with water by the back door but usually its just not enough and we take you straight to the bath.
My sweet little boy. You love Mama's long hair. You love to tangle your hands up in it and you also love to brush it. Lately when you find me in the bathroom getting ready, you'll pull up a step stool, take my hairbrush from me, and say "I can do it!" And you'll start brushing my hair. It sweet to see this nurturing side of you.
You love to cuddle in Mama's lap while you drink your chocolate milk in the morning. You also will come up to sometime during the day and tell me that you are "ready for a hug". This means you want me to go and sit down on the couch and hold you. If things are too busy and you don't feel like you've had enough hugs you'll go up to me and demand that I "GO SIT THE COUCH".
My wild little boy. You LOVE to wrestle with your big brother. Twice a day, before lunch and before dinner I'll find the two of you racing around the living room or you trying to tackle your brother. You are usually the instigator and you call it "pull down hugs".
My curious little boy. You love to look at things (literally) from all angles. You love to take things apart, You love to put things together in new combinations that I never would have thought about. It is so fun to see the things you come up with. When you play with toys that move you have to lay down and look at how they look when they come straight at you, when you ride in the push-car you like to hang over the side and run your fingers through the grass, and watch how the wheels move and interact with your finger. There are other things like this you like to do as well. Your Daddy usually sees what you are doing and remarks on what exactly it is, looking at shadows, movement, light, etc. And then he'll talk about his memories of doing that as a little kid.
My precocious little boy. You are 3 going on 5. You know all your uppercase, lowercase and phonics. You are obsessed with letters and their sounds. You take our magnet letters with you on walks, you take them with you to bed, and you play with them like action figures. You also create letters out of anything you can think of and have been known to throw a fit or two in front of the box of flashcards in our school supply area. You have recently taken a huge interest in sight-words as well. I was surprised actually when I gave in and let you have the box of sight-words that you know quite a few! About two weeks ago, I heard you sounding out letters, then saying the sounds together faster and faster. You were so close to reading. You do this all the time when you find written words and people in public are starting to notice and comment on how close to reading you are. Then a week ago you read the word "Bear". I am not certain if you knew the answer and chose to sound it out phonetically or if you indeed truly read it, but either way I was surprised!
On that same note, I discovered that you are also ahead of yourself on writing skills. This really took me by surprise because I assumed you'd be in the 5-7 range before you'd have the motor skills. You can write A, S, b's, T's, I's, L's M, N, and O. with a regular thin piece of chalk. There might be more, but those are the ones that you were drawing on the sidewalk and calling me over to see. All your idea. I have not pushed any school on you little one. I had planned to leave pre-k until age 4 but you had other plans and we include you whenever you ask to be included.
Quotes/Stories:
- One morning you were throwing your elephant up in the air and laughing while catching it. I heard you say "I got it! I got it!" and then when you missed I saw you look sadly at the elephant on the ground and say "I DON'T got it..."
- "I'm ready for a hug! I miss you Wonder Mom"
- (After taking a big sip of water, you wiped your mouth theatrically) "Well, Wonder Pets, it looks like your work here is done!"
- You love my bridal portrait. You started off carrying it around calling it your princess. Now you call it your Mama. (sweet boy!)
Landon, sometimes I look at you and the pure joy on your face when you are playing takes my breath away. Your genuineness is so utterly beautiful and I'm so blessed to be able to glimpse it for a little while. This stage is both fun and challenging and I am so glad that I am your Mama!
