Dane at 3 years old

Dane seems like he's in the process of growing up. We've watched him the last few months make some serious strides towards independence and growing up, and it's pretty adorable watching him figure things out and see how proud he is of himself. He chooses his own clothes and is almost able to completely dress himself, he's potty trained and can basically do the whole process by himself, he finally learned how to buckle himself into his carseat, he sets the table and fills our cups with ice and water, he unloads the silverware from the dishwasher. All the final vestiges of him being a baby or even a toddler are long gone. He is a KID now and is LOVING being so big.

We go to the gym most days a week, and when we go in, Dane runs over to the water fountain and gets himself a drink. It wrings my heart every time to watch him stand on his tiptoes and get a drink all by himself. It's so cute because he just thinks he's so big and he LOVES doing those big-people things that he used to not be able to do. He's been fiddling around with doing his buckles on his carseat for a while, but just two weeks ago I pushed him a little bit to actually try them--and he figured it out! And he is so proud of himself every time he manages it. 

He is such an obedient and sweet little boy. We have to walk a fine line between being too cushy with him and hurting his feelings, because whenever we say "no" to him, even in the nicest voice, he acts like a puppy who got hit with a newspaper. Today we were at a little museum and he climbed up on something that said "NO CLIMBING." I turned around and said, "Oh, no, no, let's get down from there"--in a totally nice tone of voice because I thought it was pretty cute that he ended up there--and he cried and walked with his head down for ten minutes. So when I actually do get mad--which happens too often, I know--it's pretty devastating. But he's very forgiving and will always wrap his arms around my neck and say, "Fank you" whenever I say sorry. He has his bad weeks, but usually he is just eager to please and eager to do whatever I suggest. I sure love that about him. 

He runs EVERYWHERE, all the time. And when he runs, he pumps his arms as hard as they go and he looks down at his feet every once in a while as if he wants to see how fast they are going. It's the cutest thing ever. He got new tennis shoes that he thinks are "running shoes" and is convinced he runs way faster with them. He got a new Adidas sporty outfit from my mom, and calls it his "running outfit" and begs to wear it every day.

He also is talking more and more like an adult every day. He is picking up lots of phrases and tones of voice when he talks. Tonight I said, "I'm going to go clean up before the home teachers get here," and he said, "Yeah, the home teachers would like it if you would clean up." His voice is pretty deep for a three-year-old and everything he says is so matter-of-fact that it's hilarious. All the people who watch him at the daycare at the gym think he's the funniest kid. He says things like, "I am going to get a drink now" or "I am wearing this orange shirt," and they crack up because he sounds like a little man talking. He thinks that he's basically on the same level as the adults around him and doesn't really notice any distinctions between us. He is very logical and once I explain something to him so that he understands, it stays in his brain forever. I told him months ago that he had to wear his seatbelt or else the police would pull us over and give us a ticket, and he immediately became dedicated to always wearing his seatbelt. And it's so fun that now we have real conversations and I am legitimately laughing all the time at him. Today at lunch, he was rolling around saying, "I'm SO starving, Mom. I'm STARVING. My stomach is STARVING." And this was after we'd already eaten lunch. He clearly had no idea what he was saying.

But he still says a few words wrong and I hope they stay that way for a long while yet. "Oatmeal" he pronounces "o-pomeal" (he eats it every morning and still doesn't notice he says it like that), "piano" is "panio," "ambulance" is "ambweewance." "Big brother" is "big brudder" (and he insists that we don't call him "big boy," ONLY "big brudder").

(On another note, I am kicking myself that I didn't put this picture on our Christmas card. What was I thinking??)

I am sure grateful for this boy--for both of my boys. I feel like my life is so FUN with them both. So much work but also a lot of fun and laughter.