Dear Ty,
You are officially three years old! I don't think I can really say that I can't believe you're three because with all that you say and do I definitely don't think of you as two. I sort of can't believe you are just now turning three. This isn't to say that time hasn't flown because it absolutely has. There are so many things that I love about you and a few that could very well drive me to a nuthouse before the age of 40.
You a are a feisty, emotional, hilarious, and thoughtful kid. You definitely wear your emotions on your sleeve. There's no doubt in anyone's mind when you are in a rotten mood because you get the meanest look on your face and when you're in a happy mood your smile will melt a room. You have a way with ladies that literally leaves me in fear of what the future is going to hold. I have a feeling the long nights of you as a baby are going to have nothing on the long nights of you as a teenager. Already when you see the girls down the road playing outside, you have to jump on your Harley Davidson battery powered motorcycle to say hi. It usually becomes quite the production.
You are the most ticklish person I have ever met. If you even think someone is going to touch your neck you crumble into a ball. I got Daddy a head massager and this is a video of when we tried it on you.
You weigh 33 pounds and you are about 28 inches tall, although you were not capable of holding still when I just took that measurement so maybe we'll just wait for a more accurate one at your three year appointment. You wear a 3T in just about everything pretty comfortable. Your shoes are a size 10 or 10.5. You have big feet like your brother!
I have no idea where you got your vocabulary. I think it might actually be bigger than Case's at times. You use words like meanwhile, and actually when you are talking. It's so weird to hear that coming out of your little mouth. When Daddy or I tell you that we are leaving you tell us to "Drive carefully and don't drive in the mud or the firetrucks and ambulance will have to rescue you." It is the cutest and I really need to get it on video to show you later.
You idolize your big brother. In fact I had trouble coming up with a list of your likes because you pretty much just like everything Case does. If he says it, you say it. If he does it, you do it. He is definitely your favorite person. I don't know what you are going to do with yourself, or better yet what I am going to do with you when Case starts preschool three days a week next school year. You will most likely be lost without him!
You are very social. You love to be around people and in a crowd and if the crowd has all eyes on you that's okay too. You are SO different from Case in this area. I'm predicting you are going to be the kid that joins every possible extracurricular activity at school.
I think you are much smarter than you let on. You know your colors, with the exception of blue and yellow. I have no idea why those two throw you off but they do. I didn't think you knew any letters until I handed you a sucker from the bank and you read the two letters on it out loud, "there's a P and an L". I had to take it back from you to see if you were right. I had no idea you knew any letters and I have no idea what other ones you know. You are not one that has enjoyed school time with me like Case did and if I asked you those specific letters you'd most likely just say "tell me," as you usually do. You can count to about 15 easy enough but beyond that I just don't know much about you academically because I think you know more than you let on.
You are pretty into superheroes and love to role play with them. You love to play with trucks and cars too. You like the Switch N' Go dinosaurs and transformers but I think that's mostly just because your brother does. We've had a pretty rough winter and caved on the Wii. You've only played it a few times but you really like "sword fighting" on it. It is pretty hilarious to watch you play!
You also love to play in the bathtub. Even when Case gets out you will stay and play for quite a while. I am guessing you're going to be a BIG fan of the pool in a few months too!
You like to watch TV but you don't tend to sit all the way through a whole movie. Your favorite seat is the recliner all wrapped up in the heated blanket. You are definitely MY kid in that arena! You love to watch Sherrif Callie's Wild West, Paw Patrol, Toy Story 1, 2, or 3, Team Umizoomi, Cars 1 or 2, The Polar Express, and right now you and Case are a little more obsessed than you should be with Frozen.
You LOVE sweets! Chocolate is probably your favorite. You will try anything we put in front of you though. Whether you like it or not you will say you do while you rub your belly and say "yummy!" I love to watch you take a bite of something and barely be able to chew it, yet through that yucky face you make you say you like it. You're a brave eater for sure! You like spicy stuff just like Daddy. You're totally his boy when it comes to food. You're not nearly as picky as your brother. You don't eat a lot typically but I'm sure that day is coming soon enough. You love to go out for Mexican food so that you can eat chips and salsa (unless it's super spicy) and queso dip. You could eat pizza everyday I'm pretty sure, unless of course it is "floppy" because then it just makes you mad and you won't eat it. You like some fruit and not many veggies. You love yogurt with chocolate (imagine that) granola in it and oatmeal with peanut butter and brown sugar. Those two things make up at least part of every breakfast just about. You have recently started chewing gum. You are a big fan of cinnamon Trident. Case won't touch it because "it's spicy" and you can't get enough of it! So far you've been very good about spitting it into the trash when you're done with it but I'm sure I'm due to find some matted to the carpet now that I've typed that.
Being only 16.5 months younger than your brother, you don't really have your own friends but you sure do enjoy playing with Case's friends, Andrew, Sage, Marshall, JJ, and Allison, in fact you might even play better with them than Case does. The only friend that is your age is Caroline, your friend from church. I don't know if Grandma counts as a "friend" but you sure do LOVE spending time with her and Grandpa!!!
You are a pretty good sleeper although I'm starting to get a little scared that naps might be getting close to over, which is much sooner than Case started to break himself of napping. I'm just going to throw this out there... there's no shame in going back to napping regularly! You go down for a nap around 2. You get about 30 minutes of phone time in bed. You like to watch shows on Netflix and play the Endless Alphabet app. After that time you usually struggle to actually go to sleep but eventually you do. The problem is this usually happens when you're due to wake up about 30 minutes later and then you have a hard time getting up. You go to bed for the night around 8:30 and you again get some phone time first. After that you like to be "snug as a bug in a rug" with Minnie Mouse, Birdie, and Ni Ni (a dog), snuggled in with you before you fall asleep. Chances are on most nights we'll hear your little feet run across the upstairs to come and ask me, "Mommy will you make me snug as a bug in a rug please?" a couple times before you actually go to sleep. You are so adorable though I do it every. single. time. You get up in the morning at about 7 to go potty and then back to your room to play until your light goes off around 7:30.
You hate shadows! There are many nights where we have to adjust things in your room or explain shadows. Sometimes it scares you so much you have to put the blanket over your head to fall asleep. On a weirder note you are very freaked out by fuzz. Yep, fuzz. I don't know if you think it is a bug or what but you freak out when you see fuzz and Lord help us all when you find some in your room!
You could be darn near self-sufficient at dressing yourself. It doesn't always end up with everything facing the correct way but it's impressive to me nonetheless.
You are fully potty trained during the day, at naptime (in the event that you nap), and at night. You did this at about 2.5 years old. It was a bit of a rough start as you are a little stubborn but once you got the hang of it it's been no big deal. You even pee standing up already. It helped a lot to watch big brother all the time. Now the two of you get a BIG kick out of peeing at the same time!
You also got a new big boy bed when you started climbing out of the crib in August. I found the perfect bed for you on Craig's List. You call it your "boat bed."
Ty, I have had a blast with you this year. I can't get enough of your snuggles and hilarious sense of humor. I hope this year brings us just as much fun! My prayer for your future is that you will grow into a kind man that loves the Lord with all your heart. Everything else will fall into place. Please know that today and every single day Mommy loves you with all her heart! Stay sweet little man!
Love always!
Mommy
