Dear Ethan, you are 3!

Dear Ethan:

I don't know how it could even be possible that it's been 3 years since you've entered this world! It seems like just yesterday you were karate chopping me inside my belly! As I sit here writing this update I am amazed at how much you have grown and changed this past year. I can't help but be a little sad with how quickly you are growing up and how these years seem to just flash by. So let's talk about you and what you are up to at three years old!

First of all, you have just the best personality. You are full of so much excitement, wonder and fun. You can be a little shy with people at first, but give you about 3 minutes and you are in full on Ethan mode! You LOVE to talk with anyone and everyone that will talk to you and I have to say people are always impressed with your vocabulary. They always think you are older than you are not only because of your stature but because of how well you converse with people. You love to ask questions these days and it can be exhausting sometimes but it makes me happy that you are so curious about the world around you. You are the sweetest, most loving, caring little boy I have ever met. You are so kind and considerate of others and I can tell that your little heart breaks if someone doesn't treat you the same way in return. I hope this part of you never changes. You are our gentle giant! You love to cuddle, hug and give kisses and I'm so happy that you still ask to lay on me or cuddle me every day. I know these days won't last forever. You are still a Mama's boy and I love it and will soak it in for as long as it lasts! My favorite thing to watch develop this year is the bond you share with your sister.  To see the two of you together makes my heart burst. You are the best big brother to her. You love on her, play with her, make her laugh, comfort her when she cries, you are always attentive to her and it just amazes me that you have loved her from the instant you saw her. She lights up at just the sight of you and I know she will look up to you always. 

You have a lot of distinct interests these days. First and foremost is your love of nature and being outdoors. I tell everyone that you would live in a tent outside if we would let you. The Winter is the hardest time for you because you get terrible cabin fever being stuck inside all day every day and I don't blame you. But to make up for our crappy Winters, we spend as much time outside when it's nice out. We go to the park or go for a walk around the neighborhood every day as long as it's not raining. You love to go on adventures and discover new places so we are always trying to find new places to take you. I love how much you love being outdoors and its so fun watching you take everything in. You don't miss anything. Every bird or plane that flies by, every bug that crawls past, you see it all. You smell the flowers and talk about how beautiful they are, you just love to be in nature. You recently got binoculars, a microscope, bug catching kit and magnifying glass and they are your favorite things right now. You want to bring them with us whenever we go outside so you can get a closer look. You are just amazing little man! Besides being outdoors you love all things animals, dinosaurs, trains/cars/trucks/construction equipment. You are all boy! You've always loved animals and this year you've taken a greater interest in ocean animals. You watch documentaries on whales and oceans all the time. It seems crazy to me because you are so little but we love it and encourage it. We've subscribed you to two animal magazines and it makes your whole week when they show up in the mailbox. You will "read" them until the pages are falling out you love them so much. 

Speaking of reading, you still love books and it makes this book-loving Mama so happy. We read books at every nap and bed time and some days we sit and you pull out every book you can to read. We are constantly adding to your collection based on your current interests and I think it's such a good investment to keep your appetite for reading strong. You love to sing and I think you know every possible nursery rhyme song thanks to your daycare teachers. You lay in bed at night before you go to sleep and sing. It is the cutest thing! You are so smart and I'm am constantly amazed at some of the things you know at only 2, now 3. You know shapes, can draw some shapes, colors, recognize all letters upper and lower case, what sounds all the letters make, you can spell your name, write your name, count to thirty on your own and to 100 if we help you. You love to learn new things and love to be challenged. I buy a lot of pre-school and kindergarten workbooks to introduce you to new concepts to work that brain of yours and you love it and constantly ask for more! 

One thing I love about you right now is that you love to help in any capacity. You will do pretty much anything we ask you to so long that you are involved. You carry up boxes that are delivered, bring trash to the garbage can, you've done yard work, and you really love to cook. You love making pizzas and baking. You actually made blueberry muffins for Dado from start to finish with pretty much no help from me except for measuring and a little stirring help. In that same vein of wanting to help, you want to exert your independence and try to do everything on your own. Depending on what it is, we let you try to do it yourself and sometimes you end up asking for help and sometimes when we try helping you, you end up in a crying tantrum ball on the floor!

You are finally old enough now to take some park district classes! We are getting ready for you to start soccer and baseball classes and we are all excited for it. You are more interested in soccer I think but we want to expose you to different things so you can decide what you want to play. More than anything we just want to keep you active and moving and practicing teamwork with other kids. I think it will be really good for you to learn to take direction from a coach and interact with different kids. You have definitely come out of your shell in the past year and are less timid around new things and people so I think it will be a great experience. It's amazing to see how much braver you have gotten. Things you would have never even thought about doing last year on the playground you do with ease this year. It's amazing to watch you conquer things. I might secretly be cringing while hoping and praying inside that you don't fall and break your face, but that's just because I'm your Mama and I don't want anything to happen to you! Overall, every day you seem a little bit older, a little more grown up, which is both heartbreaking and totally amazing to watch.

Ethan it is so hard for me to fully describe how amazing you really are. Everyone told me that 2 was both wonderful and terrible and they were not lying. You are sweet, stubborn, frustrating, lovable, helpful, exhausting, cuddly, curious, kind-hearted, caring, adventurous and the most incredible little boy I have ever met. I am looking forward to see how much you grow and change during your third year. You will forever be my favorite little boy in the whole-wide world! I am so lucky to call you mine and you make us so proud to be your parents. We love you so much Ethan Michael!

Your 3 year stats:
Height: 42 inches - still off the charts and I'm pretty sure you always will be. People think you are 5!
Weight: 37 pounds - 89% You keep stretching in height and you never stop moving so you are very thin.
Clothing Size: 4T in bottoms and 4T and 5T in tops depending on the store.

We asked you about some of your favorite things right now and these were your answers (some things you gave us one clear answer, others you had a full list):

Favorite food: Strawberries and pizza
Favorite drink: Milk
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite holiday: Christmas
Favorite toy: Thomas (trains)
Favorite person: Ethan
Favorite friend: Mama
Favorite tv show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Octonauts
Favorite movie: Bugs Life, Cars and Oceans
Favorite animal: Giraffes
Favorite bug: Ladybugs
Favorite books: Goodnight, goodnight construction site, The sleepy little alphabet, Me...Jane, Giraffes can't dance, Two at the zoo, Color train, color train, Have you seen my dragon
Favorite song: ABC's, twinkle twinkle
Favorite place to go: Zoo, dolphin show (at the zoo), park, choo choo restaurant, arboretum
Favorite stuffed animal to sleep with: Piggy
Favorite thing to wear: Pajamas and boots

A photo recap of your second year!

I hope all of your wishes always come true my sweet boy!