You are now three years old. I will insert all the cliché phrases..ready, set, go.
I cannot believe it has been three whole years since we brought your sweet, tiny self home. This time has gone by so incredibly FAST! A lot has changed since then (thought you are still sweet and tiny) so I will update you on what you are like this minute.
You like to talk, a lot. This comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me or who knew your dad when he was but a wee bit. He grew out of his constant chatter and unfortunately your mama did not. You don't necessarily have to talk to us, even though you prefer this. You will talk to yourself as your playing, you will talk to inanimate objects, you will talk to whoever engages you, and you will talk in your sleep sometimes. You are able to articulate different feelings which is helpful even though sometimes it's just more effective (in your mind) to scream and cry at the injustices of the Cone house.
You now have a keen sense of emotions and tones of our voices. When we use our "get your act together, son" tone, you immediately ask us, "Are you happy?" You immediately can sense when we are upset or stressed or anxious even if we haven't said anything to you. This makes me happy as it will benefit you greatly down the road.
Eliot, your memory is astounding. This doesn't always work to our advantage. You remember things we say we will do and are not very flexible especially if those plans are very fun and need to change! You still talk about our family beach vacation we went to last year and can recall things (like lyrics to top 40 songs) that we didn't even know you were listening to. WHOOPS and thank you Kid's Place Life on XM for giving us appropriate things to listen to.
You have officially become a picky eater even though I said I would NEVER have a picky eater. I believe the ironic thing is, that I've created it. Sometimes there are things that are just easier to give you and there's about ten of them and since you are a creature of habit..well, it just became the perfect storm of a creating a picky eater. I will say, you will try anything once. This is where you being a people pleaser works in our favor. The list of things that you like are typical toddler foods: pasta, pizza, chicken, hamburger, fries, corn, applesauce, cereal, fruit and all snacky things. You LOVE snacks.
You are still into cars, trains, trucks, ALL THINGS CONSTRUCTION, building blocks, books, painting, coloring, drawing and are currently working on writing your name. You can do this with ease with a bath crayon on the tile which makes us proud. We are still working on paper and they have started this at school too.
Also very important to note: You have been going #1 in the potty for almost six months now and the last couple of days you have also gone #2. Last night at Olive Garden you proudly exclaimed for all to hear that you needed to go to the potty. I assumed that was #1 calling. When we got to the restroom, however, you promptly sat down and did your sitting down business. As you know, from my previous post, you typically ask for diapers. It was everything in my power not to do a cheer loudly in the public restroom that contained encouraging phrases about going #2. I did tell you how proud I was over and over which made you then (when we got to our table) exclaim how PROUD you were of YOURSELF for going POO POO in the POTTY. All caps equals the level of loudness on those words. :)
Now, let me give you an update on us. We love being your parents. We are giddy to our toenails over your insanely beautiful and vast imagination. Pretending with you is our favorite and hope that you never, never stop. We worry if we are good enough for you and if we will raise you to be the man that we long for you to be. We have no big expectations of you or lofty dreams and goals we want you to fulfill. Our hope for you and honest to goodness prayer is that you love God, so much so that it overflows into humanity. Just that you are able to love on people. This is the prayer that keeps me up at night.
You are a beautiful, precious, sensitive, sweet, active, funny little boy and we love you to the moon and back.
Love,
Daddy and Mommy
