three

is a tough age so far. forget the terrible two's, it's the terrible three's in our house! my guess is it's probably not that bad, but we've had such an easygoing little guy that these temper tantrums and fits of anger that he expresses are a bit of a surprise. he's not afraid to tell us no if he doesn't want to do something. i must ask the question, "who makes the rules?" a couple of times a day...to which he answers, "mommy and daddy", but apparently he just doesn't follow them! while three has been a little tough...it's also filled with so much goodness. he's such a little man now - sometimes i can barely remember when he was a baby (cue the tears!).

a few things about my boy:


*one of his favorite things to say these days is "when i'm big like daddy i can..." as in, "when i'm big like daddy i can watch scary shows" or "when i'm big like daddy i can use sharp knives". it's super cute.


*he also will often ask me if i want to see how big he is and when i say yes, he stands up very tall, with a big, proud smile on his face.


*thomas the train is the lastest obsession. pretty much started when he turned three and is showing no sign of slowing down. one of his favorite activities is to read the catalog of thomas trains, sets, accessories that comes with the trains. he has many of them memorized...mostly thanks to grandma reading it with him over and over!

*every train/lightrail we see is a thomas and he has to know which one it is. the max is named...max and the wes is wes...other times we have to get a little more creative. we've had porty, keizer and a few others that aren't coming to me right now.

*i think he might be close to dropping his nap. he only naps about 65% of the time right now and on those days nightime is such a struggle...sometimes he isn't out until 9 or 10. days that he doesn't nap he, drifts right off to sleep. i don't know which is worse.

*he loves to help me cook. oatmeal, pancakes, banana bread and cookies are some of his favorites!

*his imagination has come alive and it's creating monsters in his head. he's been waking up at night quite a bit and we think he's having nightmares. he talks about a monster who bites his hair and lives in the forest a lot. his pillow actually has a hole in it and when i asked him how it happened he claimed the monster did it.


*potty training is not going so well. he can totally do it, but just isn't always super interested...even when m&m's, junior mints, stickers and handy manny tools are involved. most of the 2/3 crowd we run with are potty trained, so it's making me feel like a bad mama! (yes, he did pick out the pink potty...insisted and after i suggested different colors a couple of times i stopped...nothing wrong with a pink potty! someday he will probably not be too happy about this pic being posted...he clearly wasn't happy with it being taken!)

*he often calls me "mama gassner". not sure where he came up with it, but it is quite funny...he usually uses it when he really needs me or when he is just waking up.

*he can be so sweet and so menacing with his sister in the span of 15 seconds. he often asks her for sloppy kisses...nothing cuter than your baby girl giving your baby boy sloppy kisses and both of them laughing with delight. 15 seconds later he will be body slamming her and there will be lots of tears. ugh.

despite the challenges that the threes are bringing, i couldn't be happier to be home with him and to be able to soak up all the goodness...and the not so good (makes the good so much better!).

fiesty

as in maya is one fiesty girl! she has for sure crossed over into that "no longer a baby" stage and is one fiesty toddler. cute, but fiesty! one of her favorite words, "NO!", with a little snarkiness is heard out of her mouth throughout the day. she's a girl who knows what she wants and don't even think about changing her mind! seriously, where did my baby go? oh and did i mention that she is finally walking? yep...right on her 15 month birthday. she took off and hasn't looked back.

a few other random things about my girl:

*she loves chicken...it's about the only thing that i can almost guarantee that she'll eat every time.
*words she says: mama, dada, papa, duck, mil (milk), mo (more), change, no, wawa (water), book, dog, baby, bye-bye, night-night, ouch, cat, shoe, all done, brrrr (as in it's cold outside!), nana (banana), poo-poo, yuck, lion...there may be a few more, but we're still trying to figure out what she's saying! she definitely has a sound for kellen/brother...but i can't quite decipher it yet.
*signs she uses: milk, more, all done, change (when she poops and needs her diaper changed, she comes over and signs it!), eat, water, wash, book, thank you
*she loves music and dancing...even when she's not feeling well or just about asleep, if she hears music her body just can't help but move to the beat!
*she loves the water...bath or shower, either one she's a happy girl.

*she has a bit of a sweet tooth; well actually she's a junk food junkie - chocolate chip cookie (gluten-free, of course!) or pirate booty, she's good with either!

*she's not afraid to get into a little roughhousing with daddy and kellen

*her hair is long enough for a little pony in the back now...so cute, but of course i have to distract or trick her, cause if she knows anything is in her hair she promptly takes it out!

*she likes to brush her teeth, but only lets me brush her teeth if she's laying down on my lap with all three of us (kellen, aa and me) saying "AHHHHH" the whole time.
*she's an itty bitty and just moved up to a size 3 diaper at 15 months...by comparison, kellen wore a size 3 diaper at about 7 months (but didn't move up to a size 4 until just recently...now we are working on just switching to undies, but that is another post!).

*when she was born, most people said she looked like aaron, now we are getting more comments that she looks like me. what do you think???
*she may be fiesty, but we sure love her!