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| Anderson on his birthday with his new bike |
What a fun week it has been- Anderson is loving life as a three year old! He really is such a happy (and healthy!) kid, which is all I can ask for.
From the very beginning, Anderson has been especially sweet and affectionate. He still likes to be held- or "snuggle with mama" a lot. He still plays with his hair- or mine- especially when he's sleepy. In some ways I feel like I have this kid all figured out. I know what foods he will eat (which, thankfully, is a growing list at this point.) I know when he will nap and about how long he will sleep at night. I know that timeout will work, eventually, and he'll be ready to talk about "why did we have time out" and get right back to whatever it is he was doing.
But in a lot of ways, Anderson definitely surprises me. He is the most amazing sponge and is learning so much. He has always loved books and letters and numbers, and it's amazing to me how much he knows. His grandparents especially have so much fun teaching him new things- because he loves it, and he will remember. For instance, lately he's obsessed with onomatopoeias. At first he just thought it was a funny word to say, but now he will hear, "pow" or "crash" and say, "That's a good onomatopoeia!" He loves to come up with as many as he can, and (thanks to my dad), usually ends with, "and of course....Bif!" Ha. Weird, right? But so funny. He also loves totem poles, and he has 5 totem pole figurines he keeps on his dresser and likes to play with. This all started from his favorite episode of Little Einsteins, but his love for totem poles has continued to grow.
Anderson loves to play with a ball, and he's pretty good at throwing. His newest skill is catching, which has come a long way in the last couple of weeks! (His Aunt Casey taught him to follow up a good catch with a touchdown dance.) His other recent physical milestone is jumping. He learned to "hop" right around Easter this year.
Anderson also loves instruments and can name and act out a lot of them- trombone and cymbals are his favorites. He got a xylophone for his birthday, which he is soo excited about. He likes music parades, especially (a little tricky with a xylophone, but we were making it work.)
He's getting into pretend play lately, too. He is forever coming up with new names for me. Some of my favorites are "Mama Wolf" "Firefighter Mama" and "Mamasaurus." So he is of course, "Ander-wolf-cub" "Firefighter Anderson" or "Andersaurus." He got a pirate hat, toy parrot and spy glass for his birthday, and he's had fun looking for Captain Hook.
Anderson is really pretty social these days. He may still be a little slow to warm up, but he really likes to have friends to play with in the cul-de-sac, at the park or Chic-fil-a. He's gotten really good about playing nicely. He can be a little bossy, but is usually really sweet to his brother. They're getting to the age where they like to "wrestle" on a big pile of pillows, which is so fun for me to watch. We did VBS at church all week, and he had a ball! He was so good about going up to each of the friends in his class and telling them goodbye, by name, when it was time to go. I think he will LOVE preschool this fall.
He is stubborn and cautious (probably gets both traits from Ryan and me both). He still won't go down a slide, and he's perfectly comfortable telling his friends, "No," when they are playing. Even though he really is normally happy and sweet, he can be a little grump now and then. For instance, I wanted him to say hello to some ladies this morning and he said, "No- I'm not friendly! I'm just sad." Oh geeze.
Needless to say, Ryan and I think he's just the coolest three-year-old little guy. He makes us laugh and makes us so proud every day. We love you, sweet Anderson!
