At 3.5 years old, Sutton...
*You weigh about 36 pounds and hit just below my waist. Some people say you look big for your age, but I think you are pretty comparable to the other kids in your class. But you still have a very large head.
*You wear size 3T clothes. 4T underwear and tighter fitting jammies (like the ones where the pants are leggings).
*You have been potty-trained since just before your birthday in June and we never have accidents (knock on wood). You still wear a pull-up to bed for nap and night time. It's generally dry after your nap but pretty wet in the morning.
*In the last month or two, you have become able to go pee all by yourself. Sometimes you don't even tell us, you just disappear and we'll hear you going in the potty. It's so wonderful that I don't have to drop everything I'm doing to help you pee.
*...but you still need help when pooping. :)
*You sleep from about 8:30 or 9pm to 7:30am. You've always been a good sleeper. We use an "alarm clock" that is a night light...the light turns off at 7:30am so that you know it's okay to get up. You are very obedient when it comes to sleeping and not coming out of your room til your clock turns off. So much so, that when you're sick we have to explain to you that it's okay to come out of your room during the night if you don't feel good and you need us.
*I don't think you wake up much before 7:30am on your own (i.e., you're not just lying in bed forever, waiting for your clock to turn off) because we have to wake you up two mornings a week for preschool around 7:15am, and you're generally still sound asleep.
*You take a 2-ish hour nap around 1:30. Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. I was worried for awhile that you were going to give it up because your naps got really short. So we moved your bedtime from 8pm to 9pm and that solved all our problems. :)
*Our bedtime routine consists of changing into jammies, reading a couple books in your bed, singing a few songs (Mommy sings you Twinkle Star, I Love You Lord, and Hush Little Baby while Daddy sings Puff the Magic Dragon when it's his turn to put you to bed), praying, and kissing you goodnight. You always go to sleep without a fuss, which I am so grateful for.
*When you wake up in the morning or from your nap, you like to come out of your room, close the door (you always close your bedroom door) and go lay your head down on the couch for awhile before you're fully awake.
*You always eat a waffle or toast with peanut butter for breakfast. And sometimes a banana. The lunch favorite is a meat, cheese, and mayo sandwich. Dinner would probably be mac n cheese or spaghettios. You love apples, grapes, and strawberries. You're venturing out a little and you say you like carrots and broccoli, though it can still be a struggle to get you to eat them.
*You go to preschool on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8:15am to 11:15am. Your teacher is Ms. Tracy and you love going. You say that you color, dance, sing, have recess, have snack, go to PE, go to Social Group, go to music class. You learn about a different letter each week and always come home with that letter stamped on your hand.
*You are always saying "Say?" You've shortened the phrase "What did you say?" into "Say?" I hear that a million times a day. I think you say it more out of habit than because you didn't actually hear what I said.
*You love all things with a motor: airplanes, helicopters, and race cars are your favorites.
*You love to play the "What Am I?" game that you learned from your favorite show Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. For example you'll say "Ribbit ribbit!" and then I have to guess you are a frog. Then you say "your turn!" and I have to make a noise or describe something that you guess. You could play this game forever.
*You used to be obsessed with Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and we still watch that show somewhat often, but lately you've been loving Caillou, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and Handy Manny better. We still don't have normal TV, so you just have to keep watching the same episodes over and over on Netflix, but you don't seem to mind.
*You have such a kind spirit. You are not destructive or uncontrollable like a lot of little boys we've seen. Generally, you try to obey what we tell you and you genuinely care about other people. You have your moments of being naughty and not listening, but I feel like for a 3-year-old, you are pretty calm and obedient.
*That said, you love being a boy: running around in circles, making loud race car noises, crashing your cars together, jumping off the furniture. But if we ask you to stop, you do. I make an effort to let you get your energy out in the ways you choose, as long as it's not hurting you or anything else...even if it's making a mess or not my first choice of activity.
*You love your Daddy and want to be just like him. We always talk about how you're going to grow tall like Daddy. But you and I have a special connection. You are very attentive and often you'll just come up to me and say "Mommy? I wuv you." and give my leg a hug. I love that you do that.
*You're very aware of the fact that we're having a baby and that me being pregnant limits what I can do. You never get mad when I tell you I can't play on the floor because it's hard for me to get up and down. If I tell you to be careful around my belly, you are. You're SO excited to be a big brother, and you talk about our baby all the time. You say "I'm going to teach our baby all sorts of things! Like how to play with cars and how to crawl..."
*I feel like I have a handle on how to discipline you when we're at home, though Daddy thinks I need to be more strict. Your punishments for misbehaving (which usually means you're not listening, or you talk back) are normally losing a toy, losing TV watching privileges, and time outs in your room. But I don't feel like I have a handle on disciplining you in public. When you act up while we're out, I always get so self-conscious and feel like I don't know what I'm doing.
*You've learned to put on your own shoes (the neon green running shoes with Velcro straps). All we have to do is tell you which foot they go on.
*You love to make silly faces and it's generally hard to get a real smile out of you for a picture because you love to make faces instead.
*You know your full name, how old you are, my first name, Daddy's first name, and that we all have the same last name. You can count to around 15 or 16 on a good day. You know the alphabet. But more than all that, I feel like you comprehend concepts really well. Whenever you ask me a question about how something works or why something is a certain way, I do my best to explain it to you, even if I feel it's beyond what you can understand. Then I ask you if you understand. You usually say you do, though I don't always know if that's the truth. You'll often surprise me by explaining it back to me at another time, or remember things that I totally didn't think you would.
*You love to make people laugh. Just like your dad. You're so funny and keep us on our toes. I'm sure there are a million things about you that I'm forgetting to write down, but at least we got the basics of you at 3.5 years old!
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