The Smith Files: Free to Be Three!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Free to Be Three!

Dear Callan,

Today was one of those special days in our family because you turned three years old! Mama can barely comprehend that I don't have a sweet little baby to cuddle anymore. You are a boisterous, curious, and fast-paced little guy these days, and we are having so much fun with you!

In the past year, you have morphed from a sweet little toddler to a very active little boy. You won't let me call you a "boy," though. Whenever I ask you if you are a big boy, you always say, "No, I'm a kid!" You have been running non-stop since the day you learned to walk, and you literally never stop. It's funny to watch you run from place to place. The word "slow" is not a part of your vocabulary. You LOVE to play chase with anyone who has the energy to follow you, and sometimes I find myself part of a game of chase in which I would rather not participate!

You absolutely think you can do anything your brothers do, and you really won't let anyone stop you. You adore them both and love to play with them, when they will have you. It's getting easier for them to allow you to be a part of their activities because you can understand more rules and participate better, but I still hear a lot of "Mom, Callan's destroying everything!" and we have to find alternative things for you to do.

Your favorite thing in the world is to be outside, running and climbing at the park, or flying down the sidewalk on your balance bike. I have never seen a kid move so fast on one of those things! We got you a little shark helmet to wear this summer, and you love it! You like to wear it around the house just for fun. You also started swim lessons this summer, and although they weren't a hit at all, you did make some progress with feeling comfortable in the water and getting your face wet a little more. We will continue your swim lessons this fall in the hopes that you continue to become comfortable and want to try to swim instead of run out of the pool! :) You'll also start up with your skating lessons again as we know we have at least one more hockey player in the family. It won't be long before you're all suited up and hitting around a puck on the ice!

Although we still have you in your crib for naps and bedtime, we know that time is quickly coming to an end. Your bunk bed is all made and ready for when it is time to transition to a big boy bed. It's just so easy to keep you in your crib, and you are happy there and sleep really well, so it's hard to mess with a good thing. But, we have started decorating around you, painting the walls pink and putting up some girly things in anticipation of baby sister's arrival. We have also begun working on potty training, which is unfortunately going very slow. You are more than happy to pee on the potty whenever I ask you to, but you haven't started telling me yet when you need to go. I am hopeful that we can make some good progress in this area in the next few weeks before preschool starts.

so sweet and perfect, and this is about the only time you are still ;)

At your 3 year well check, you continued to measure as a little peanut. You weighed in at 29 pounds (25th percentile) and 37 3/4 inches tall (50th percentile.) This is no surprise as you are much too busy to eat a whole lot the majority of the time, but other days you eat a ton!

Today to celebrate your big day, we headed out to the Mall of America for some fun on the rides. You loved it all, and it was the first time that you went on many of them. After lunch, we went to see Turbo at the movies and then enjoyed some pizza and cupcakes at home. You were a little confused and upset because we had planned to have your birthday party today, but we rescheduled it for a couple weeks from now. You kept asking when we were having your party and where were your dinosaur cupcakes. Thankfully, I had some dinosaur candy sprinkles that we added to the top of the plain white cupcakes, and that seemed to help. :) We are looking forward to celebrating again at your real birthday party.