A three year old boy

My sweet James,

I love you so much little man. Just thinking about the fact that you are now three years old tears me up. You are growing SO FAST and while I’m sad to see you get bigger, I love EVERY second of it! You are a joy little bud and I’m so thankful that I’m your Mommy!

At three you are the sweetest. You are so kind and considerate of everyone. You are effusive with your praise, telling Charlotte and I that we look beautiful, and tell me that you love me as often as you can. You are amazingly observant for a three year old also. When I had my first Bible Study meeting the week after your birthday the first thing that you asked me when you walked out of school was, “How was Bible Study Mommy?” You have a heart of gold and I love watching you pay attention and care for others.

In addition to your sweetness, you are still three and we are having the meltdowns to prove it. Usually occurring when you don’t get your way you will start crying and wailing, “Oh please please please Mommy….!” It’s sort of funny to hear unless we’re out in public, but thankfully those don’t happen too often. You’ve been quick to heed correction in this area though and are getting a lot better at using your words and telling us what you want or don’t like instead of immediately breaking down into tears. Even when you’re being stubborn (wonder where you got that from! ha!) you are still sweet as pie and we love you so much!

You finally have boys in your class at school this year (you’ve been with all girls the past two years) but you still say that your friends are girls. I guess that shouldn’t surprise us since your true best friend is you sister and you’re with girls all the time. You talk often about Claire and we (and your teachers) think you might be a little sweet on her. But I don’t think I have anything to worry about. You told me on Tuesday that she wanted one of your chocolate bunnies at lunch and I asked you if you let her have one and you said, “No! Yum yum yum! I ate them all up! They’re in my tummy!” You will still usually share dessert with me so I think my #1 spot is safe for now.

Your sleeping habits are sometimes all over the place these days. You typically sleep around 12 hours at night and take a two hour or longer nap during the day. Near the end of summer we started letting Charlotte get you up early to play quietly in your room but we found that she was often waking you up and, like your Mother and Sister, you tend to be kind of a grump when woken up so we put a stop to that. Instead we got you a clock like Sissy’s and told you that you can get out of your bed at 8 in the morning and 3 at nap time but so far you haven’t mastered telling the time on it so you’ll just sleep through until I get you up. Of course, when we’re out of town you sometimes have a hard time falling asleep at night and, like now, you’re still awake and it’s 9:40 pm!

You are still a little guy just like your sister before you. At your three year checkup you weighed right at 30 pounds (30%) and were 37.5″ tall (60%). You are still in 2T pants and can wear 2T or 3T shirts. You could pretty much live in a collection of Braves shirts, Alabama shirts, and any type of collared shirt .You pick out all of your clothes and so often go to school in mismatched pants and shorts but you’re developing your own style and still occasionally let me pick out an outfit if I insist so I don’t mind.

You are a blankie boy and have to hold the crocheted baseballs on one corner of your blankie to go to sleep. You also ask for it if you’re really upset, like the other day at the eye doctor. You have lots of stuffed animal babies ranging from a Ninja Turtle to a Stegasouras and you have a small baby doll that you sleep with that you have named Coconut Jesus. Coconut Jesus is quite the character and is your buddy. You found him in the playroom after Hadley arrived and acquired him for yourself, I guess so that you could take care of your own baby. He and your blankie are your two mainstays and your other favorite animals rotate around.

I guess due to an older sister, you have an amazing vocabulary and can talk very well. Adults frequently comment about how varied your topics of conversation are and how well you converse. And…you’re hilarious! The things that you come up with crack us up all the time! You still talk in a sweet baby way for some words, specifically Had-wey (Hadley), funderstorm (thunderstorm), and someking (something).

You have lots of loves including dinosaurs, trains, cars, and animals, but your number one love is sports. You alternate between saying whether baseball, golf, and football are your favorite sports but whichever one is on is your current favorite. You love the Braves and can identify most players by sight (even the ones that I’ve never heard of). Your favorite Braves players are the Upton brothers, Jason Heyward, and Freddie Freeman. You also love Alabama football and have said multiple times to your teachers at school that you’re “just an Alabama boy.” And you are over the moon for golf. Often we will say something to you and you’ll look up and say, “I’m Bubba (Watson)” or “I’m Rory (McIlroy)”.

You are still a fairly picky eater although you are starting to be more cooperative when we ask you to try something. You frequently request peanut butter on a spoon and can eat bowl after bowl of applesauce. You love cereal and alternate between Cinnamon Life and Apple Cinnamon Cheerio’s as your favorite (sometimes you even request Life on the bottom and Cheerio’s on top). You also love oatmeal and can eat a lot of it also. You still like fruit but are more wishy washy about what you want to eat sometimes eating only banana’s, sometimes only grapes, or sometimes wanting none of those things. You would drink milk all the time if we let you and are starting to be happier about having to drink water during the day.

Jamesy, I can’t even describe how much I love you. You are my cuddle bug and I love it when you say that you want to “sun-gle” (snuggle) with me. Our morning’s while Sissy is at school and Hadley is asleep are so sweet and I love getting to be your buddy for a little bit since you would always prefer to play with Sissy when she’s home. While I love having you as such a sweet little boy, I also can’t wait to see what God has planned for your life. I know that he will do amazing things through you and I can’t wait to see them. I pray that you turn to him and let him strengthen you every day of your life.

Your Daddy and I love you sweetheart but Jesus loves you even more than we do.

I love you every second, of every minute, of every day.

Mommy