Spencer is THREE!!

My sweet Spencer,

Today you are three!! The pictures above and below were taken last summer, and boy have you grown since then! I can't believe how little and sweet you look!

You are a talker just like your mommy and daddy! You always have something to say. You love to sing, you love to tell us about everything that goes on, and you love to read books. It's amazing how verbal you have become. You can count as high as 60 in English and 16 in Spanish, you know all your letters and most of their sounds. Your current favorite song is "Jesus Christ is risen today" from Easter service. You know all the words to verses 1 & 2. You don't really know what all the words mean though so when you sing it some of the words get smooshed together to create new ones. It's adorable! You know all the nursery rhyme songs (Baa Baa Black Sheep, ABCs, London Bridge, etc, etc). You also LOVE the Laurie Berkner CD and know quite a few of the songs on the greatest hits album by heart.

Your favorite thing to do is to play sports. You love to golf (it was a sad day for me when you stopped saying "dolf" and started pronouncing it correctly!), you love to play hockey (golf with a helmet), and play catch. You got a basketball hoop and a soccer net for your birthday and you have been using them non-stop since Saturday. You are not really into cars or trucks. You love construction equipment whenever we see it when we are out and about and you love books about them, but you don't "play" cars, trucks, or trains. You love blocks and puzzles. You're getting really good building "tall towers" which Peter now is obsessed with knocking down.

You are a good eater and sleeper. You sleep from 8ish-6:30ish most days. Probably one night every 1-2 weeks he will end up in our bed from 1-4 am. He climbs in the middle and then one of us will wake up eventually and put him back in his bed.

You eat most of what we eat every night. You are currently crazy about the Mueller Yogurts that have the layer of chiffon on top. You eat one every morning with a little bit of granola on the top. You eat fruit or veggies for most of your snacks when we are at home. You love all fruit and your favorite veggies are peas and carrots. We still have to soften up the carrots just a touch for you or else it takes you 20 min to eat just one baby carrot. You can be picky at times and, heaven forbid, we put a green bean on your plate. That almost always leads to a full on fuss fest. We do have to encourage you to drink milk. You much prefer water. I can't blame you buddy, but I also know that you need the calcium for your growing bones!

You adore daycare. You love your teachers (so do we!!) and have great friends in your class. Your best friends are Ethan, McKenzie, and Kelsey. You talk about them all the time. There is a little girl named Rachel who follows you around all the time and just adores you. It makes me smile every time I see it! Miss Kelly says that you tend to hang out with the girls more because you are not as rough and tumble as many of the boys in your class. I would definitely agree with that. You have a tentative personality and are never the one I am going to have to worry about doing wild and crazy things. It's just not who you are at your core. You are sweet and smart and shy until you get to know people.

 

One thing we are really working on with you both at home and at school is picking up. You want to jump from activity to activity without any cleaning up in between. You will let other kids in your class pick up for you and not help. You've gotten slightly better over time, but it is still your weak point. We also have to remind you at times to have your own voice as you won't get into trouble on your own, but if someone else is doing something and asks you to do it, you will join them even if you know it is wrong. We have talked about it a few times with you and it does seem to be getting better in the past few months. I feel that finding your own voice now will lead you down a better path throughout the rest of your life, my boy!

 

 

You adore Peter. Sometimes a little too much :) We have to tell you to stop hugging him so tight sometimes!! You are so good to him and try to help him walk or learn how to do other things. It's so sweet. You do occasionally become protective of your toys and you will often tell us that something is yours and not Peter's. We know that sharing will be something we will always have to work on with both of you over time, so we expect this! Overall, though, you are just the sweetest thing to him and he loves you too. I am excited to see your relationship develop even more this year!

 

We are so blessed to be your parents, Spencer, and wouldn't wish any day with you away. We know you will continue to learn and grow and develop this year and are excited to see you blossom. You have made us realize that there is nothing like the love we have for our babies. It's truly an amazing process to be a parent and we're so lucky to be yours!!

 

Happy Birthday, SYT!!!