Three

Our baby boy is now three years old. Birthday posts are always so hard for me to write because I get so sentimental and sad looking back at the past year, wondering where time has gone. But at the same time, I remind myself to soak in the moment because I know that one day, sooner than I wish, Buddy will be turning 13 or 23 and I will long for the day when he was 3.

So, instead of getting all sappy, I will just write about what Buddy is up to at this age.

Animals. Seriously this little boy loves animals more than anything else in life. For his birthday, he asked for a warthog, meerkat, hyena, wildebeest and baboon. What 3 year old knows and loves those animals? But really, he had to ask for the exotic ones, because he already has all of the regular animals like horses, dinosaurs and giraffes. His love of animals has really made parenting a little easier. We just have to relate everything to an animal and it is suddenly the best thing in the world! Don't want to go upstairs for pjs and bed? Let's climb the stairs like mountain goats! Don't want to eat your veggies? Let's pretend we are rabbits and eat these carrots!

Buddy is an energetic little boy. He doesn't sit still for too long. He loves to climb on the back of the couch, and jump from one corner of the couch to the other.

He doesn't eat much for breakfast or dinner. But that 4 to 5 o'clock hour? All the kid wants to do is eat, eat, eat. I try my best to keep him out of the kitchen, but when I fail at that, he does do a good job of eating healthy snacks.

Despite that, Buddy weighs as much as Punky. I randomly weighed the kids a few weeks ago and both weighed 36.6 pounds. They are also both wearing the same size shoes. A few times this summer, Punky has been wearing a 3T dress and Buddy's been wearing 4T shirts. Punky's still got a few inches on him, but I suppose that probably won't last for long either.

Buddy is still a sweet little boy. He gives the best kisses and has developed a little pet name for his mama (buh buh). He loves his sister and plays so well with her. Everyone comments on how he looks just like his daddy.

Even though we'll always think of you as our little 18 month old toddler, we can't wait to share many more birthdays with you and see who'll you become. We love you, Buddy!