A letter to Henry on his 3rd birthday

Little Buddy, I can't believe you're THREE YEARS OLD!  I can't believe that we are celebrating another year with you and at the same time, I don't remember the days before you arrived.  You are such a joy to me and your Daddy, we just love you to pieces.  You have a kind heart, loads of energy and a hilarious sense of humor. You're smart, sweet and the cutest little guy I've ever seen.  Of course, I could be partial but even random strangers tell us just how precious you are.  One of the ladies from church recently asked you "Do you know what a beautiful baby you are?"  You just smiled back at her, showing the precious dimple on your left cheek. My heart melted.  I'm so proud of you and the little man that you're becoming. 

Even though you are funny and a joy to be around, you have a short fuse that is always burning. You're like your Mama in that way, but hopefully you'll learn from your Daddy how to mellow out.  :)  See not too long before your second birthday, you started going through a very aggressive stage that lasted for several months, nearly a year.   We knew we couldn't cave and let you get away with being that way, but finding balance with disciplining you was very tough. We tried spanking, timeout, ignoring fits and walking away, scolding, calm talks. Exhausting.  We didn't know what would work, but we knew that we needed a change. Fast!  Almost 5 months ago, we decided that instead of staying with Nanny, we were going to put you in a preschool program.  We were anxious of course, but within 2 days of being there, your attitude during the day and at home started to change, dramatically at that.  Your schedule there is very busy and you get to learn all kinds of things from art to Bible to Spanish to music, even fitness (Yoga, anyone?).  You come home singing new songs all the time and you have a dozen playmates that you love to play with.  You get to play outside twice a day and burn off that physical energy that I swear your cloning while you sleep.   One day I picked you up and you cheered "Mama, I got to play on the 'puter in the libaby!"  You were so excited to go to the library and play on the computer.   You are so mentally and physically active during the week that you're usually more happy and relaxed in the evenings and on the weekends.

Your teachers and other school staff have always told us how sweet and kind you are.  One of your teachers told us that you are always offering hugs and checking on your classmates if one of them cries. I've come to pick you up on numerous occasions to find you helping clean up and put chairs away. You love it when the teacher reads stories and you watch and listen intently. This always makes my heart smile.  The absolute best part is that you're always smiling and happy when we pick you up and you even ask about school and classmates on the weekends. We really think it's your happy place which reaffirms our decisions and makes us feel so incredibly blessed.

You love to sing songs and be silly. The things you say now have us cracking up. Just the other day, you matter-of-factly said "Yeah, he drives me cwazy!"  I thought Daddy and I were going to bust a gut laughing.  Your laugh is crazy contagious and I wish I could bottle it up and savor it forever.  One of your favorite songs is "Jesus Loves Me" and when you do the hand motions, I can't help but get chocked up. It's beyond precious to hear your little bitty voice talk about how Jesus loves you and you love Jesus.  Yes little man, Jesus loves you and we thank Him for bringing you to us.

You absolutely loves cars and trucks, boats and planes and anything else that moves. You get excited to see trash trucks or school buses and every time I see one of those, I think of you.  Construction and farming equipment will make you scream in delight as you point them out and make sure that we see them too. Although you might be borderline obsessed, you absolutely LOVE firetrucks.  So much so, your birthday party is firetruck themed.  We have a family friend that is a firefighter and he loves showing you around the fire house even though you act like you own the place when we go visit because you've been there so many times.. You love climbing up in the truck and the ambulance.  Every time we hear the sirens nearby, you squeal "He's coming! Hurry! Hurry" as we look out the back window.  You always say "He's going to help somebody!"  As they drive away, you say "Pray for Mr. Jeremy!" 

You're very particular and routine oriented, which is typical for toddlerhood. You don't like a whole lot of variety from day to day but you're getting better about going with the flow now that you understand what's going on.  You love going to get ice cream and trips to the park.  Last month, we took you to an indoor park and you ran around like a wild child for 3 hours. You climbed on everything and went down the slide until your little legs couldn't take anymore climbing.  It was great to see you being sociable and sharing with other kids and having a blast.  In the past, you may have been more shy and not quite as outgoing so it was a real treat for us to see you enjoying yourself.

This year has been full of ups and downs, but we really look forward to seeing what this year brings for you. I hope it's full of laughter and happiness as you grow and learn more about the world around you. Thank you for being the light in our lives. Thank you for letting us creep into your room each night to check on you as you sleep peacefully.  Thanks for the big hugs and the way you lift your legs off the ground when we pick you up. Thanks for letting me rock you to sleep and a big thank you for sleeping in on Saturdays. Thanks for the laughter and the childlike way you look at the world around you. Thank you for every day. Daddy and I love you to the moon and back.

Love,
Mama