Happy Birthday Sweetheart!
You turned three years old today. I can't believe how fast these past few years have gone. You have changed in a myriad of ways and yet you are still the same sweet boy that was put into my arms three years ago today. You are such a good big brother and are so much kinder and gentler with your brother than I ever dared let myself hope. You keep me on my toes both for disciplining and for belly laughs. You've also developed an interest in reading! YAY! I love it when you bring me book after book and we sit and read. You tend to talk while I'm reading and ask questions about every single part of the illustrations, but that just means you're learning while we read. I hope you continue to grow and thrive in your love for books. Oh, and you've finally decided to use the potty! YAY! No more diapers! I am SO proud of you! You've only had a handful of accidents since Christmas-time and you keep improving. I can't wait to see what this next year brings you, Derek. I know you will meet every challenge head on and stick it out. You are a trooper and never let anything get you down for long.
Here is a list of your favorite things as of today. :) I love you sweet pea!
Love,
Mom
Favorite TV shows/Movies: Dinosaur Train, Curious George, The Little Engine That Could (2011) -affectionately known as Train in the Park. You also like to watch what we call "Mommy Movies" with me - usually documentaries or the sci fy TV show, Merlin. I let you watch that one because you like the CGI dragon and there isn't any blood during the fight scenes. :)
Favorite Food: Beans and Weenies, cereal and yogurt, fruit snacks, bananas/apples, chocolate chips, popcorn, Grandma Heath's cookies (you ask to go to Grandma's shop at least once every week or two)
Favorite Toy: trains (especially Thomas the Train, though you don't really like to watch the Thomas movies), dad's tape measure, Bryce's toys
Favorite Activity: playing with your cousins, nursery (you always ask to go to church and I'm pretty sure it's because you want to go to nursery), playing in your turtle ricebox (supposed to be sandbox, but we use rice), running (you NEVER walk if you can help it), riding your bike
Favorite Color: pink (this makes your father nervous)
Favorite Letter: Q (you always ask me to draw a Q for you when we pull out the coloring books)
Favorite Number: 5 (when we do counting activities, you immediately count to 5, even though that may not be the number we're looking for)
Favorite shoes: your Lightning McQueen rainboots. You wear them as often as you can. Usually I can persuade you to wear your Lightning McQueen tennis shoes, but sometimes you insist on wearing those boots.
Other Random facts: you love to wear hoodies with the hood up, even if you're inside. You still want to sleep with two toy cars. Doesn't matter which ones. You love to have the big penguin blanket that I grew up with on your bed at night. :) You still love pushing buttons - literally and figuratively. You can be extremely well-behaved when you're in a good mood. Even when you're in a bad mood, you still help me out by grabbing a diaper for Bryce or turning on a light (or your favorite: turning on the xbox). You are the king of sharing. When I give you a treat (like a baggie of cereal or bag of fruit snacks) you almost always pick one out and say, "Here, want to try it?" Sometimes you say it to Isaac, sometimes to Dad, sometimes to me, sometimes to totally random strangers.
You say the funniest things: you stood on a chair this week clad only in underwear and socks and announced, "Mom, I a prophet." When I asked what a prophet does, you responded, "I don't know, but I a prophet." You absolutely LOVE the Dinosaur Train show. you walk around talking about completely random dinosaurs like Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Amargasaurus. You like more common ones like Pteranadon, Triceratops and Ankylosaurus too, but I think Masiakasaurus, Stegosaurus and T. Rex are your favorites right now. You walked in on me in the bathroom the other day and noticed I had more pee in the toilet than you normally do... so you asked if I "pee-peed really hard?" Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard!
