Steven at 3 Years

Steven, you are turning three this weekend. But it feels like you should be turning 4 or 5! You have always been more mature than your age developmentally and also you have always looked older. It sort of feels like you've been 3 for a while now. Sometimes I think you might be a teenager! You act so old and big.

So proud of his school work.

You are really wanting to do a lot of things by yourself these days and you can do so much! You can get dressed by yourself, you can even put on your slip on shoes. Sometimes you put them on the wrong feet but you are quick ot fix it. You go to the bathroom all by yourself sometimes. I will walk by and you'll be coming out pulling up your pants, toilet flushed and everything correct. You are getting so good at cleaning up your toys by yourself. You even take your plate to the sink after dinner. Recently you figured out how to turn on the TV, turn on Netflix and even how to put in and take out a DVD! It's crazy!

On the other hand you have a temper! You run from emotional highs and lows very quickly, which I think is really normal for your age. The smallest thing can set you off into a temper tantrum with screaming and crying. Sometimes when you get determined to have something your way you can be SO stubborn! For instance if you want mommy to put on your shoes and I won't (because I know you can do it by yourself) you will cry and scream and be so determined to win that fight! You are persistant for sure!

Vegging out.

You have a really sweet side to your personality as well. You will do sweet things for other kids like give them their coat if they forget or comfort them if they are crying. You get really concerned when other kids are upset and that is so sweet. You will cuddle with me and give me spontaneous kisses and hugs. I love it! You get sick of mommy always attacking you with kisses though and I can see my baby boy growing up in that way.

3 years old!

As you can see, you have many sides to your personality. You are equal parts rough and tumble and sensitive and sweet. You love to climb, jump and run and be silly. You also love to sit and play with my jewlery or makeup for pretend. Your favorites right now are Spiderman and My Little Pony. I love that you are diverse in your interests and I am just encouraging you to explore everything right now.

My boy. 

Steven, you have developed into such an amazing big brother. You LOVE Logan and it is so sweet to watch you develop a relationship with him. You want to be around him all the time now. You love to help us hold his feed him or go get a bottle or blanket. You will go get his pacifier all on your own when he is crying. You share your toys with him and give him kisses in the morning and kisses goodbye. When we bring him to your daycare to pick you up and the other kids swarm him, you will protect him. It is so sweet.

Brotherly love.

You love to make your brother laugh and you will be silly to get him to laugh. You are so proud of yourself whenever he does. You are just the best big brother to him already and I know you two will only get closer as he gets bigger and is able to play with you more.

Two goofballs in the morning.

Three years old already, Steven, and you are an incredible kid. You have so many different facets to your personality as well as being incredibly smart and mature for your age. You always keep mommy and daddy on their toes. You are developing into an amazing big brother and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us all!

Logan at Seven Months

Logan, this month you have really stolen my heart! You are such a sweet baby, it's such a pleasure to get to take care of you! You mostly go with the flow with everything. You are easy-going and happy a lot of the time. You put up with a lot of rough housing by your brother and he just cracks you up. Sometimes he is too rough with you and it really doesn't seem to bother you that much. We don't get to hold you as much as we want to because we have your crazy brother to deal with a lot of the times, but you really don't seem to mind too much. You will play on the floor by yourself happily or in the bouncer.

He's such a cutie!

Speaking of playing on the floor, you can really make a mess! I'm genuinely amazed at the amount of mess you are able to create just sitting next to a basket of toys. You love to tip over the basket and get all the toys out and throw them around. When I took you in for a Dr. appointment you managed to tear up the paper sheeting they had down on the exam table in like .2 seconds. It was incredible! ha ha. I think you have a bit of the troublemaker your brother you got in you too!

Boo!

You are so good at self-soothing. You love to have your binky and for the longest time you couldn't keep it in your mouth. Now you have figured out how to hold the binky in your mouth with your hand! It's so adorable. Towards the end of the month you have figured out how to hold it in with just your mouth but it is just so sweet to see you holding in your own pacifier.

You are pretty good at soothing yourself to sleep as well. I love rocking you, now that we have a rocking chair in your room it is a sweet moment between us at the end of my hectic day. You are such a sweetheart and usually can find a comfortable position right away and just doze off to sleep. A lot of times when I lay you down, you will startle or wake up but you will put yourself back to sleep on your own usually. You are still mostly sleeping through the night and that's AMAZING. After your 6 month shots, you cried at night and I knew something was wrong. Poor guy, those shots really threw you for a loop. But generally you wouldn't cry if something wasn't really wrong.

This month you have really started to try to get mobile. You get to spend some time every week at Grandma Riegerx's with Micah who is crawling. So I think that motivates you to get going. You have started moving your legs and reaaching for things when you are on your tummy. But mostly that results in you rolling over and looking darn cute. I know you will get crawling any day now. You actually crawl in your sleep I think because sometimes you will cry and I will see that you are jammed up in the corner of your crib and your legs are still moving. So cute. Even at 4am that's pretty cute.

At the zoo!

You love to practice standing up holding onto something. You're not steady enough for me to let you go but you love to practice and I think you get a kick out of the new viewpoint. I wonder if you will crawl or go straight to walking like your brother.

Logan does Target

This month you have really picked up your babbling. You babble all the time and its starting to actually sound like words. You will babble "Ba" a lot and a few other sounds. Before it was just sort of incorherent noises but now I can tell you're trying out sounds that make words. We babble to each other in the car on the way to and from Grandmas. I love it. You "say" something and I make that sound back to you and we go back and forth for a while.

Logan, its hard to believe you are already 7 months old. Where has the time gone? You are just the sweetest, happy baby with the best temperament. It is truly a joy to be with you and get to take care of you. You had a really productive month, learning to make sounds, hold in your binky with your mouth and hand and working on crawling! We love you so much!