three years old

There is a song that begins: "Do you remember the twenty-first night of September..." It never fails to make me smile because I do indeed remember the twenty-first night of September. I held my tiny Little Man three years plus a day ago (the twenty-first of September) for the very first time.

Since we already had a cheesecake and present opening celebration with his grandparents and may have another cake for him with his friends from our home group in a couple of weeks, we didn't do anything big on his actual birthday yesterday. We did, however, celebrate by spending almost an hour at the park, enjoying the perfect autumn weather, eating apple pancakes for lunch, and macaroni and cheese and carrots for dinner (his choices).

Right now Little Man...

loves running, jumping, and climbing

likes throwing balls very hard

enjoys shouting at the top of his lungs

is learning to reserve most of the above activities for outside

loves reading, learning, and exploring

likes cooking in the kitchen with Mom

enjoys painting, sculpting, and drawing beautiful works of art

is almost obsessed with puzzles

is fascinated by building and tools

loves wresting with Dad and getting horsie rides from Grandpa

likes playing games with Grandma

enjoys showing brother the ropes, keeping tabs on what he's doing,

and making him laugh

loves talking on the phone to grandparents, aunts, and uncles

likes telling about things he remembers

enjoys singing and singing and singing some more

is learning to love the truth

to like doing right

to want to do what he's supposed to do

to obey right away

to be such a good big-boy helper

I'm so proud of Little Man's growth. I'm pleased with his verbal skills, his problem solving skills, his increasing physical strength and coordination, and his sweet charm, but most of all I'm thankful for his growth in strength of will to do right. May God give us wisdom to guide and teach him as the years continue to roll by, and may my Little Man grow to be a strong man who loves God and His righteousness, justice, and truth!

Happy Birthday, Bud! I love you so much.