anderson: 3 years

It's hard for me to believe our littlest boy is THREE! There are so many words to describe this kid. A few that come to mind... hilarious, goofy, energetic, stubborn, loving, smart, independent, sweet, and just plain cute. We often refer to Anderson as our "difficult child", but his charm and hilarious personality make up for it most of the time. He can have me steaming mad one minute, then laughing myself to tears a minute later. He's such a blessing from the Lord, this little boy!

Here are some things I want to remember about Anderson at 3 years:

He weighs 28 lbs (25th %) and 36.5 in. (26th %)

He is really into coloring/drawing, and playdough. Basically, anything that requires fine motor skills. He will sit at the kitchen table for 30-45 minutes and do one of these activities. This comes in real handy when I am trying to get dinner on the table! I think Anderson is an amazing little artist. When he colors, he actually stays in the lines! He's also starting to draw people and faces. I am always so impressed by his work.

He only takes a nap one day a week - Wednesdays - since he has church that night and is up very late. I will admit that while I sometimes wish I still had those 2-3 hours in the afternoon of alone time while he slept, I am enjoying the flexibility of not having a napping child right now. We can run errands, go to the park if it's a nice day... anything really! He has "quiet time" in the afternoons for about an hour, where he can play in his room. I don't really care what he does - as long as he stays put. Since Evelyn was born, I will admit I've been lazy and have just been letting him stay downstairs and do quiet activities in the afternoons. It has been easier since I don't have to deal with him coming out of his room ten times or calling me upstairs to come help him with something. He goes to bed around 7:30 each night and sleeps till around 7 in the morning, give or take some. He sleeps on the bottom bunk bed.

As I mentioned above, sweet Anderson is much "harder" than his big brother ever was. I jokingly say that when we had Camden, and he turned out so easy, I figured that David and I just might make easy kids. Oh, how naive I was. He is very stubborn and hard-headed. He knows good and well what's right and wrong, but he often chooses to do what's wrong... despite the consequences. He's not afraid to look me in the eye and tell me "NO", if I tell him it's time to leave or its time for lunch. If I tell him to tell someone "thank you", he won't do it just because I asked him to. David and I joke around and say that if he wasn't so cute, we'd have killed him by now. ;) Despite his difficult times, he's adorable, smart, hilarious, and very loving.

We knew we weren't going to do anything big for his birthday with a one-week-old at home, so we let him pick what he wanted to do. He chose to go to Monkey Joe's, and Camden and his cousin Anna-Kate tagged along. They had so much fun!

We sure do love this 3-year-old! He adds so much joy and laughter to our days.