THREE Years Old!

My baby is THREE! Luke is no longer anything remotely close to a baby and so much a big boy these days. He is smart. He is sassy. He sweet and gentle with his sister. My sister says his vocabulary is better than some of her second graders. He pushes the limits in attempt to exercise his independence, then hugs and kisses to apologize. Life is quite a journey with this one!

Here are Luke's 3 year stats, milestones and updates:

• Weighs 34 lbs (75th percentile), Height is 3 feet, 3 inches (90th percentile, still estimated to be ~6'1'')
• Favorite color is red. 
• Favorite foods are strawberries, PB and strawberry jam sandwiches on whole wheat bread cut into some kind of cookie cutter shape, and chocolate of almost any kind. To be fair, I also have to mention that he loves, loves Chick-fil-A and pizza. I guess I can only shelter him for so long...but he has still never eaten at McDonald's and I'm trying to keep it that way! Will not drink milk and consumes very little calcium-laden foods, so we've started a calcium supplement. Still not a big fan of veggies. Favorite drink is lemonade.
• Has a great laugh!
• Excellent imagination! Excellent.
• Continues to LOVE to cook, both real and pretend in his own little kitchen.
• Getting better at playing alone, but still prefers to have someone play with him. His favorite games are hide and seek, and chase. He loves to chase and be chased whether running around the living room and kitchen or riding his scooter or plasma car around. He does this funny thing where he goes to get his little orange bowl (always the orange one) and puts it on his head as his hat while his rides. No idea where that came from, but it's a regular part of the game!
• Favorite places to go: the park, the Children's Museum, the Little Gym, the Zoo, Chuck E Cheese and Toys R Us (shocker!)
• Has this habit of roaring at people all the time, both people he knows and new people he meets. It's like his way of breaking the ice when he's uncomfortable and just being silly with those he knows.
• He talks about his friends from school and church and prays for them.
• Calls his sister "Lessey". 
• Has a lisp and may need speech therapy in the future. We'll see.
• Favorite shows include Peppa Pig, Max & Ruby, Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Fireman Sam, Caillou, some Dora/Diego. He likes so many European shows that he has started to pick up some of the words. For instance, he'll be riding around on his scooter, then stop and say, "Oh no! I'm out of petrol (gas)!" And he'll say he's going to "ring" so and so, meaning call her on the phone. So funny!
• I already mentioned his great vocabulary. He has also mastered "why" questions and correctly uses "because" statements.
• Has taken to calling us Mom and Dad all of a sudden and with no prompting; we are only Mommy and Daddy every now and then. Also has started to call Lacey "Lace", Grammie "Gram" and his blankies "blanks". Not sure where all the abbreviating came from...
• Knows all colors and shapes.
• Can count to 20 with a little help at the end. Does not really know letters yet. He's not one who will sit still to learn and does not like to read books very much, so learning through activity is better for him. 
• We tried to potty train at 2.5, but he was not ready and really did not get what was supposed to happen at the potty. His pediatrician insists that we do not push him, but I think I have decided he's about ready. He has peed in the potty before and he'll tell us he does not want to use the potty, only to sit in the bathtub and pee into a bucket. So I will likely be working on this again soon.
• Is still quite a ham and continues to love to be the center of attention!
• Favorite toys: garbage truck, firetruck, cars, pretend fire hose, 
• Favorite books: Go, Dog, Go; Cookies & Milk (got it at Kindermusik), The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Elmo's Babysitter 

We celebrated Luke's 3rd birthday at the Little Gym with 12 little friends and family. The Little Gym is one of his favorite places and they offer a stress-free party for parents (literally, that's how they advertise it), which is exactly what I needed given the insanity of my full time working mom life. We went with a Thomas the Train theme. The original plan was just a train theme because Luke has gotten more into trains since receipt of his train table for Christmas, but when I went looking for party items, everything train was Thomas, so I went with it.

Instead of taking cupcakes to school to celebrate Luke's birthday, we took blueberry muffins in Thomas the Train papers.

Being a silly boy...

And using his drill as a mixer.

This picture is blurry, but I was trying to do a quick capture-the-moment shot with our little camera. He was riding his plasma car around as a tow truck and tied a bungee cord to his scooter so he could tow it to safety. He also likes to strap a basket onto the back of his plasma car, put books in it, then ride around and deliver the "mail" to everyone at home. This kind of stuff is regular, every day imagination and silliness at our house. 

I was taking a couple pictures of Lacey up in the playroom and Luke got right in front of me and said, "Take a picture of me, Mommy!", then proceeded to pose as follows:

He loves this scooter and is actually pretty fast on it. I have to run to keep up with him when he really gets going. Now that the weather is nicer the scooter will have to stay outside, much to his dismay.

Luke's Big Boy Room

Our precious 3 year old.

Luke, we are so blessed to have been chosen as your Mommy and Daddy! We have loved every minute of the last 3 years (yes, even those minutes spent in time out) and can't wait to see what all you learn and do in your 4th year!