Dear Nathan,

I can’t believe it’s been 3 glorious years since the day that i worked for hours trying to push you out of my body. I thought i’d never recover but look at us now! “I love you so much” seems too simple of a way to put it. You’ve become such a little personality – all your own. You’re independent and curious and oh-so affectionate. Where do i start?

Friends, Family, & People

• You are a social creature. You get that from me, I am SURE of it! Not only are you a social creature but you’re a warm-fuzzy being. You want to touch everyone you meet. Sometimes that lands you in trouble because you tend to get over excited and gentle touches suddenly become shoves or squeezes. We’ve been working on letting you know that it’s okay to touch others but you just have to be gentle about it. Then, there are those friends of yours who sometimes would rather not be touched so we’re working on the whole “respect your friends” concept. I know it breaks your heart when the hugs and kisses sometimes aren’t reciprocated by your friends and you can’t understand why they’d need privacy or personal space, but we’ve encouraged you to respect that nonetheless. I know one day you’ll grow out of that touchy-feely stage and i’ll long to have it back.
• You love your family, especially your baby brother. It is so cute how sometimes you’ll randomly come up to me and say “Mommy, William’s so cute and sweet!” It gives me such a warm feeling and puts a smile on my face at how loving you are.
• You’ll often times tell me, “Mommy, i want my friends to come here and play with me.” You love to be around friends.
• You’ve started talking about family members that live in various other states as you’ve become interested in the USA puzzle you recently got. You’ll recite, “Aunt Betty lives in Georgia” and “my great-grandparents live in California” and “grandpa lives in Texas – I want to go to Texas!!”
• You’re okay with separating from Mommy & Daddy for lengths of time. You’ve demonstrated this not only from your first few days at Preschool, but also when going to friends houses.
• You certainly know your place in this family. Once when I called your Daddy “honey bear” instead of “honey”, you quickly caught it and said, “HEY, I am honey bear not Daddy!”
• You love to hide from Daddy when he’s walking inside the house from being at work. Daddy walks in and asks, “where’s Nathan?” and I’ll say, “I don’t know – he was here a minute ago!” You’ll hide behind the rocker in the family room then giggle out loud till he finally comes and finds you.

Learning

• You love to read. You read anything you see especially when we’re out and about. Like today, while in the parking lot of Babies R Us you read “Golf” on the sign for the “Golf Galaxy” shop next door. You have amazed us with starting to read books as well as words on different packaging, etc.
• You are very interested in Geography. You’ve begun learning and memorizing states of the US and we’ve talked about people we know who’ve lived there and also events that have taken place in various states (i.e., Mommy & Daddy getting married in Maui). You are always saying things like, “I want to go to California,” or “I want to go South Carolina”.
• You’re able to carry on very adult-like conversations now with such a HUGE vocabulary! Sometimes when you’re asked to do things but you don’t really want to you’ll surprise me by saying the cutest things. For example, before leaving for preschool I told you to leave your toys and come get your shoes on and you replied, “but I want to play this [cars] – it’s favulous!” I responded by agreeing that playing cars is “favulous” but that we could play when you get home from school. I don’t have the heart to correct you to say “fabulous”…it’s just too cute your way!
• Your signature phrase has become “I’m just having fun, but I know how it works!” which started months ago and we’re not quite sure how. Overall you’ve picked up quite a few funny phrases that you seem to say often and make all your own.
• You love to sing and sing LOUD! Not only Kindermusik songs but Johnny Cash, various TV jingles and pretty much anything you can get you ears to hear.
• You’re not a fan of the board game Operation, which Daddy bought for you a few weeks back. The buzzing sound absolutely terrifies you.
• You are so interested in science and planets and the like. One of your favorite shows to watch has become Little Einsteins which has several episodes about planets and the solar system. You’ll often be playing and then randomly shout to me, “Mommy!! I forgot to go back to Earth!”
• You sing better than most grown adults. You not only know complete lyrics to several songs but early on in Kindermusik you were (and still are somewhat) the only kid that sings aloud in class. You love to sing and dance into your microphone and play singing games with Grammy where she calls out to an “audience” to see if anyone knows how to sing a certain song. You invariably always raise your hand and volunteer to sing it for everyone.
• You’ve learned to spell your first and last name completely. You weren’t even three years old when you reached this milestone! You love to type your name on the computer and spell it aloud for everyone. You also know that you live in Overland Park, Kansas which you love to say aloud too.
• You’re rhyming EVERYTHING! William – Pilliam, Mommy – Bommy, Pig – Big, Frog – Dog. You also come up with some of your own nonsense rhyming words occassionaly.

Physical

• You got a tricycle recently which you love to ride. You also never let us forget your helmet!
• You love playing “run” and any other games where physical activity is involved.
• You rarely can just stroll along when we’re out. You usually have a kick in your step and will skip, hop or just walk silly sometimes.
• One of the most common things we hear around home is “I can help you!” You love to get up on stepstools and chairs and help to just about everything including making eggs and cheese, peanut butter, putting laundry in, etc.
• Since you’ve started using a spin-brush on your teeth, you’ve gotten much better at actually brushing. You are still really good about letting us finish up for you though which is great because you tend to not get the hard-to-reach places.
• Cleanup time is much easier for you now and you’ve really done well with cooperating when it’s time to clean up toys, books, etc.
• You don’t like moonwalks or bouncy things. You often call these “wobblies” and say that “I DO like wobblies!” but we all know better. The air pump sound and the bounciness of the moonwalks are unsettling for you. You’re the type who likes to be in control of your play and bodily movements!
• You were potty trained by 2 1/2 years old which even I was surprised about!
• You love suitcases and air control towers. Actually you pretty much love anything related to the airport in general. You will often take suitcases or bags around the house and drop them off of tables, chairs, etc. and pretend it is a suitcase dropping down off the conveyor belt at the airport. You invariably say, “suitcase…..shh – boom” while doing it too.

Feelings, manners, etc.

• There’s no doubt about the fact that you’re a toddler. You’ve thrown several tantrums to prove that point. Usually you are told that you will not be listened to until you can use your words and stop whining. For the most part that does the trick. You’re still growing into your big-boy pants.
• When trying to get someone’s attention or if you are interrupting conversation, you almost always preface it with, “excuse me….” which is so adorable. I am glad you’ve started using those words and have moved away from what you used to say – “stop talking”. Overall your manners are great for a 3 year-old.
• You are starting to remember to ask to be excused from the table when you’re done which I am mighty proud of you for!
• At church one of the most exciting things for you to do is genuflect upon entering a pew. You make it a point to show me that you’re doing it every time!
• You LOVE to give – and get – “eskimos kisses”. You do it with me, Daddy, Will, and absolutely before preschool everyday. The trick is to rub noses several times then give a big kiss! You always giggle on that last part.
• “…..if I want to.” has become a routine phrase in your vocabulary. Usually it’s prefaced by something that we really don’t want you to do but you’re trying to convince yourself is okay to do. For example, when seeing the Halloween M&Ms on the counter BEFORE you’ve eaten lunch you’ll point and say, “I can try one if I want to.” in an asking a question sort of way. Or, at the store when you know you’re supposed to ride in the basket you’ll say, “I can walk by myself if I want to.” Nice try, kiddo.

Favorites
Foods:

• egg & cheese (scrambled, of course since i don’t cook it any other way)
• cake
• apple juice
• lemonade
• popcorn ( a MUST for any Target visit & movie!)

Places to Go:

• Target
• Chuck E. Cheese’s
• Preschool
• Saturn (in your imagination)
• Back to Earth (in your imagination)
• Movies

Things to Play:

• Cars, trucks, busses.
• Wiggles (you pretend to be Murray while Daddy is Anthony, Mommy is Greg – which you prounounce “Craig” for some reason, and Will is Jeff )
• Any kind of board game especially your Rhyming Bingo, Memory Games, and Computer Games
• Hide ‘n Seek
• Doctor
• Suitcase (a.k.a, airport)
• Singing games
• Anything with your baby brother. You love to tickle Will and play peek-a-boo with him!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my little Honey Bear!

Love,
Mommy Bommy.