New Years

Birthday Party!! - Jack's 3 and Hanna's 1!

What a great double birthday party we had!  We are very lucky to have such supportive families.  Grandma Joyce, Aunt Laura, Uncle Mike, Baby Landon, Uncle Mike, Alison, Papa, Grandma Mary, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Carol, Great Grandad Brown, and Great Grandma Brown came to the party.  The kids opened their amazing presents, we ate walking tacos and fruit, and then enjoyed cake, truffles, and ice cream!  It was very fun watching the kids play with their toys and enjoying all of the attention!  After cake, it was nap time for all.  It was a great Saturday, and it was especially fun to see how excited Jack was to be 3 years old, how nice he was to share his party with his sister, and how every gift he opened he would say, "Whaaaaaat?!" in the funniest voice.  We love you both so much!

Uncle Mike's Angry Birds toy made Jack giggle!

This is the next day...Jack's 3 years old!

Hanna got ahold of the remote and turned it to MTV.  Her face has "busted" written all over it.  

I love how they are looking at each other here.  Hanna's saying, "Ridiculousness is an awesome show."  And Jack's saying, "I don't know if we should do this...we might get in trouble."  A glimpse into our future.

1-9-13

Jack Robert

3 years old

Dear Jack,

           

            You are now our big 3 year old big boy.  You continue to remind us of this daily, and now ask if you are 4 yet.  You are wanting time to move too fast!  You have really enjoyed feeling like a big boy lately.  You have been enjoying standing next to the arm of a chair just to prove how much of a big boy you are!  “See, see?  I’m rilly tallllll!” 

            You are such a funny and fun, entertaining, outgoing little boy!  Yet you are shy when meeting new people, and careful to trust people too fast.  You think that men and boys that are older than you are the coolest!  You are confident, athletic, and smart.  What great qualities for such a little bundle of love to have so young!  We love that you are into reading books, singing songs, dancing, puzzles, building legos and blocks, playing with other kids, sharing with your sister, and eating your vegetables (with some bribery at times).  We love that you will truly do ANYTHING for a crescent roll.  You love these things and could eat a whole roll of them if we let you.  We usually cut you off at 2. 

            You are adorable, and have these amazing brown eyes that you are only beginning to use to benefit you.  I have to admit, it’s pretty tough to discipline you with you batting your long eyelashes at us with your little smile and head cocked. 

            You are definitely a typical 3 year old, trying to get your way, do it by yourself, and be in charge.   You love to tell us, “You awen’t in chawge.  I’m in chawge!”  But then we see you talking to Hanna in your sweet voice, “Here Hanna, like this Hanna, here you go Hanna!”  And patting her hair and laughing at how cute she is.  You really are an amazing big brother.  We are proud of you.  She is your buddy!  You stand up for her and protect her all the time.  You will even yell at us if you think we scared her, told her no, or made her sad.  You will go stand by her and scold us for upsetting your sister!!  We love the passion you exude at times, and hope that you use it when it’s appropriate!  Protecting your sister is a great place to use it!

            Telling the truth.  You are trying to figure out honesty.  A conversation happened after daycare yesterday that went a little something like this, “Jack did you have to go to chair time today?”  You answered, “Yes.”  I asked why.  You grabbed your neck gently, looked at me very seriously, started shaking your head no and said, “I didn’t squeeze Benny like dis.”  It’s almost like you are trying to lie, but don’t know how to.  We have had conversations with you lately.  You go to chair time at daycare for hitting, kicking, or squeezing.  We ask you what happened, and you show us while telling us that that isn’t what you did.  Oh we do not like to hear this is happening, but we are told this is normal.  You do not like having timeouts at home, and you were asking Bob, “My mom’s going to happy, right?”  You want so badly to please everyone around you, hate getting in trouble, but then are also trying to earn your spot and be in charge.  This is a struggle daily with your minute upgrades.  Rather than you offering us a lesser amount of time until bedtime, or time to play, you have learned that 5  is more than 2 and that is what you push for in almost everything.  “No, 5 more!” is often heard.  Or, “Fiiive more minutes.” 

            Some favorite books right now: Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site, Llama Llama Red Pajama, and you lately have been into Dr. Seuss books Hop on Pop, Red Fish Blue Fish, and Fred and Ted Go Fishing.  You’ve even started to want to read Hanna’s books, the picture books where you point to objects.  We know that you really just like to be reading with us and getting some attention so sometimes we read those books to you that we used to read so much when you were a baby. 

            Food: You are getting a little pickier.  Most times in the car on the way home from daycare, you will ask what we are doing when we get home.  I will explain everything to you, to which you reply, “What aw we gunna eat fo lunch?”  I remind you that it’s called supper, you assure me that it’s called lunch, and we get the mail.  I give you “your mail” in the car, and we begin our trek into the garage.  Most of the time you are sweet until you step out of the car.  Then you start demanding snacks, demanding football, or just saying, “No, I don’t want tacos.”  Whatever I tell you is for supper, you will usually complain about lately.  Even though you end up eating it as you’ve realized you won’t eat if you don’t eat what we put in front of you.  You really love pasta, tuna and noodle casserole, pizza, macaroni and cheese, and soup.  You sometimes put up a fight for roast, beef, and chicken, but eventually you will eat at least 3 bites.  You’re pretty good with veggies every night, after you shout, “I don’t LIKE beggies!”  Sometimes supper takes 15 minutes for you to eat, and sometimes it’s over 45 minutes.  Depends on your mood, and how tired you are.  We’ve learned to prep you about what’s to come in the evening, as well as give you your space.  I love to talk to you about your day, but a lot of the time, I get, “I don’t WANNA talk.”  But some nights are amazing.  We can get you giggling so hard, that you are almost too goofy to eat!  You say, “I want Uncle MIKE’s cup, which happens to be the Topsiders cup from the Ozarks that Uncle Mike must use when he comes.  You are sometimes full of stories about daycare…tattling about who got in trouble, telling us about monsters that were scary, and telling us about the giants and Bob and Vickie’s that “awen’t weal”. 

            Stalling:  Some of the best stalling tactics have come from you this year.  If it is time for bed, and you are in bed, Daddy will leave you and say he will come check on you.  Some of your recent request:  water, have to go poop, leg hewts, tummy hewts, you haff a headache, etc. etc.  The other night, you actually called Daddy back down urgently because you needed him to tuck your blankie into your pajamas like a cape because you were Superman.   You are very creative.  We have started a new sticker chart for you that involves you having 3 nights in a row with only one ‘check on’.  You failed last night by asking for Daddy one more time, only to tell him that, “Tomorrow, at Bobby and Vickie’s, you were going to shake your booty, like dis” (while shaking your booty).  Wow.  You crack us up, but you were definitely testing our willingness to give you a sticker.  We’re hopeful that you will get all 3 by Saturday so that we can go pick out a toy at the Dollar Store.

            Things you love right now: superheroes, monster trucks, cars, sports, marching band, Lion King 1 and 2, Little Einsteins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  You also love pretending you are doing swords, crawling and acting like a scary tiger (for 30 minutes…impossible to get you out of character), racing cars, and being tossed into the bean bag by Daddy during football while I chant, “Whoo hoo!”  You love ice cream, treats, candy, leaving the house, meeting people, going to visit people, having people come to our house, Emery and Bode, Baby Landon, all your relatives, Christmas Lights, getting gas with Mommy, laughing with Hanna, standing on chairs and stools, and playing with your ‘guys’ (Superman, Spiderman, alien, etc.) in the tubby. 

            You are amazing and so much fun, Jack.  We love you so very much, and are excited to see you blossom (slowly) into a 4 year old!  I can’t believe you will be going to preschool in August.  Boy will you love that!  You sure love your tumbling class.  I took you last week before your birthday party thinking that you would be sad for me to leave you at your first place without us (besides daycare and grandparents), but you just confidently said, “Bye Mom.” I was so proud.  When I came back to pick you up after 45 minutes, you ran to me yelling, “Moooooommmmmy!!!”  with a huge smile on your face.  As I put your coat on, you said, “I love you.”  That melted my heart.  Thank you for saying ‘I love you’ when we don’t ask you to now.  You just say it when you are happy. 

Jackie, I love you to the Moooooon and Back.   I love you tooooooo much!  Just like we say with each other every night. 

We love you our big 3 year old,

Mommy and Daddy