CB v3.5

Time is a jerk.

There is no way my baby can already be three and a half. It feels like I just wrote his three year update... Heck, it feels like I just wrote his two and a half year update!

But, alas, Choi Boy is growing up and is now halfway between 3 and 4. And here are some things that our 3 and a half year-old is up to...

The Basics
First up, some stats: our little guy is still on the little side at just under 38" and about 32 pounds. He wears a toddler size 8 shoe and is mostly in 2T clothes, but also has some 3T pieces he is starting to wear and even has some 18-24 mos stuff he still fits into! I think we're hitting a growth spurt, though, because my good eater is suddenly a phenomenal eater and has been eating as much as I eat (and I EAT -- I am not one of those "just a side salad with dressing on the side" girls! ;) ) at meals!

Thrilling Threes
To be frank, three has been a challenging age. CB knows more and understands more and therefore wants more -- more independence, more stuff, more everything...and the defiance and tantrum that will sometimes ensue when he doesn't get more ain't pretty. But, this is neither the time nor the place to go into further detail about CB's less than awesome traits, so that's all I'll say about that. (Also, I don’t believe in the Terrible Twos. Someone recently told me that whoever coined the phrase “Terrible Twos” hadn’t yet gone through the Threes with her child yet. Ha!) However, there has also been so much about 3 year-old CB that is loads of fun! My friend once told me that as her son got older, the hard times definitely got harder, but the sweet times also got so much sweeter. So far, I'm going to have to agree with that!

Chatty Choi Boy
When we're out and about, the thing that people comment most about is how much CB talks. I am not kidding when I say that he talks ALL. day. long. He will talk to anyone and everyone about anything and will narrate pretend play situations when he's playing by himself. He'll say things like, "'Don't go down there!' he cried. 'But I'm stuck!,' she shouted back." It's actually very cute, but can sometimes drive you slightly nuts in certain situations (like, say, when you're driving around looking for a place you've never been to and your child keeps talking over the GPS lady. Not that that's ever happened or anything.).

I sometimes wonder what people think when they overhear snippets of CB's conversations. Like yesterday when we were dropping off a prescription and CB wondered aloud, "Mommy, whose husband am I?" or when we were at the autobody shop and he asked, "What is this giant phone for? Where do you see the emails?" (He was asking about a fax machine) or when we were grocery shopping and he wondered, "Does everyone have a butt? Even Moses? Even Jesus?" or when we were at the shoe store and he squealed, "Oh, Mommy, look at those adorable leopard print shoes! Are they your size?" (I *might* take him shopping with me too much...)

Never a dull moment with this one!

Ciao, Choo-choos?
CB's love of trains seems to be slowly waning. While they have provided hours of independent play (usually daily!) for CB, I can't say I'm sorry to see them make their final departure. There is only so much (annoying, whiny) Thomas a momma can take, you know?? I think they'll still be around a little bit longer, but they're definitely of less intense interest than before. It seems that superheroes might be next on the obsession list, and I am not-so-secretly excited for that -- I mean, c'mon, Superman is SO much cooler than Thomas.

(Cue the awesome Clark Kent/Superman montage, please.)

Music Man
CB is also big into making up songs and singing songs lately. He is embarrassingly obsessed with "Gangnam Style" and will break into the dance at any given moment. This is especially embarrassing at church. Other favorite songs include, "I Like to Move it, Move it," "Three Little Birds," "Jingle Bells," "Father Abraham," and "Jesus Loves Me." It should be noted that he sings none of these songs with all of the correct lyrics! "You are My Sunshine" holds a special place in our hearts and any time CB hears it, he turns to me and says, "It's our song, Mommy!"

Here's a sampling of CB's singing "skillz". Please ignore my stage mom attitude as I press him to keep singing:

Mock Jock
Choi Boy still loves all sports and is always on the move. However, we've learned over the last 6 months that he is not quite ready for organized sports. He took a weekly soccer class in the Fall and while he really is quite good at handling the ball and kicking and dribbling it, he spent most of the class not doing what the teacher was asking and trying to play basketball instead. We also sampled a gymnastics class and it was the same story...He totally thought he was hilarious, though. (Me, notsomuch) We were going to hold off on more classes, but CB has asked to take swimming lessons, which we want to start sooner than later any way, so we'll see how it goes when we start in May! My dad also wants to start working on CB's golf skills once the weather gets warmer, so perhaps more individualized sports are the way to go for our ball of energy!

School Dude
Choi Boy continues to love school and is having lots of fun with his "school buddies," as he calls them. He loves learning and still has a deep love and appreciate for books (lately, his favorite is his Jesus Storybook Bible), which makes this teacher momma's heart burst with pride. CB also seems to know all his uppercase letters, most of his lowercase letters, numbers 1-10 (he actually learned these from the numbers on the Thomas trains...I suppose they *are* good for something!), and has recently become very interested in letter sounds. He's been really into saying a word, isolating the first sound, and then telling me the letter it starts with. He's also been listing things that (he thinks) start with the same letter -- he doesn't yet believe me that kitty and cake start with different letters. CB loves spelling his name and my name out loud and has also taken an interest in writing his name. But because I've been insistent that he write lowercase letters for all the letters after the capital C, I don't anticipate that he'll master this for a while longer.

Shortly after he turned 3, CB started drawing people with a face and legs and arms coming out of the head. His drawings are so cute! This one is my personal fave, from a birthday card for his "girlfriend". They are holding hands:

(I love that they have eyebrows!)

Thrilling Threes
I know I started this post lamenting the woes of parenting a three year-old, but after writing all of this out and really thinking through what CB is doing lately, I have to admit, it really is a lot of FUN, too! It's so awesome to have actual conversations and inside jokes and to hear and see all the things the CB is able to say and do. He loves to reminisce about recent (and even not so recent -- his memory is amazing!) events and pray for people he's thinking about. He can be so tender and kind and has developed a serious love for babies. He loves to create imaginative play scenarios and he really is never bored. Yes, there are tantrums and moments of sheer preschool irrationality, but hanging around a three a half-year old really is thrilling...

 I just love him so.