Colin,
You’re three and a half, baby boy. ‘Are you a baby or a big boy?’ Dad asks and you shout in reply: “I’m a BIG boy!” And, well, you sort of are a big boy now. When you turned three, I said that you’d be a “baby” until you were out of diapers and then you nailed potty training shortly after that. The good news is that you’ll actually always be my baby.
Your life right now is consumed by nature. Every afternoon while your sister is napping, you ask to go ‘out to the garden’ so you can check the (very small patio) space for new flowers. Dandelions are your favorite and lucky for you, that’s basically all we grow in our ‘garden’. Our strawberry plant recently had its first berry and you checked on it daily for weeks, waiting for it ‘to turn red so we can pick it’ (which it finally did this weekend!!). Every evening you request that we take Colby for a walk because you know it means you can scope out the neighborhood for new goodies: leaves, rocks, flowers, sticks… treasures are everywhere!
You also love numbers. I painted a wooden calendar (a Darby Smart project) and every morning you find the new date and hang the tags ‘all by myself’ before you do anything else. You love to count things, identify numbers as you see them, and play with the timer on my phone to watch the numbers change.
You are a constant stream of chatter. You narrate ALL moments of your life. It’s sometimes amazing to hear everything that’s going on in your mind, like when we turn left at the stop light and you note that we’re going to drive over the big bridge, asking if we’ll be going through the tunnel (north) or seeing the ‘balls in the sky’ (south- those things near the airport that mark the power lines). Other times your narration is hilarious. Like when you narrate your activities in the public bathroom stall: ‘Mommy, I make three poops come out my butt! Now, I flush it. Bye poop!‘ Your enthusiasm always brings a smile to the faces of strangers, that’s for sure.
Along those lines, we’re really working on embracing your ‘indoor voice’, as you tend to get REALLY loud when you’re excited (which is most of the time). We’re also working on sharing things with little sis, not sitting on her when she steals your toys, and LISTENING to your parents. All the best parts of being three.
You’re such a special kid, Colin and I’m so lucky that you’re mine. You make even a trip to the public bathroom an opportunity for laughter and bring SO much joy into my life. I love you.
Love, Momma
I’ve been documenting ‘the favorites’ at various milestones and here’s a quick update for 3.5!
Favorite Food: Peanut butter & jelly
Favorite Book: Curious George Goes Fishing
Favorite Song: The soundtrack from our Kindermusik class
Favorite Word: “Danger lion” (dandelion)
Favorite Toy: Trains
Favorite Thing to Do: pick dandelions
Favorite TV Show: Paw Patrol
See more letters to Colin: the first year I two years I two and a half I three years
