Big Three

Whether we’re ready for it or not, our big guy is three.  An adorable, strong, smart, silly, illogical, stubborn, goofy, sometimes-whiny-but-usually-sweet three year old boy with a smile that melts your heart.

Year two was a big year for Abe.  At the end of October he moved into his big boy bed/room.  At the end of January he became the world’s best big brother (most of the time), and at the end of March he got rid of his diapers (even at night).  He loves to run and climb and jump and he pedaled his trike everywhere this past year.   He has a most impressive imagination, but wants to use it with others as opposed to playing on his own (“Do you want to play with me?”).  In the last couple of months Abe has been especially interested in things that are “funny”.  He loves to make people laugh and is constantly asking “What was funny?” if Mike or I chuckle at something; it seems that he’s trying to figure out the whole “humor” thing.  He’ll often tickle people just so they laugh at him and thus, he’s known among some family members as “the tickle monster”.

He talks like crazy and is very articulate, especially for his age.  This seems to be what people comment on the most when they meet him.  There are so many things that he’ll say or the way he says them and our eyes just light up with pleasure.  Things like “Seriously?” and “I’m just doing…” and “I do… but I don’t.”  Because he does talk so well, I can’t help but smile when he mispronounces things.  My favorites still are “ire fant” (fire ant) and “Snorties” (Smarties).  He also likes to give us status updates, which are basically play-by-play commentary on his actions at the given moment.  We are convinced that the invention of Twitter came from mimicking a two year old.

Abe knows all his letters and counts to 30.  Reading books, puzzles, and singing are daily favorite activities.  Trains are still an obsession and he still talks about how we rode on Thomas way back in October.  However, currently Boz is his favorite fictional character and his DVD of choice, if he gets one.

This summer started rocky with swimming in the pool.  However, towards the end of June we got through a crazy fear of toys floating in the water (a.k.a. losing them in the drain) and now he is jumping in, going under water, and swimming (with help).  Where in May/June I couldn’t bribe him enough to go to the pool, he now is begging to go swimming as much and he asks to go on the playground, which is a lot.

We have our challenges too.  The terrible twos and, especially is seems the upcoming threes, have been exhausting at times.  Abe has been know to say, “I am doing bad things!” and indeed, he does.  He has what we refer to as the illogical two-year-old (three-year-old?) brain and often the result of that is an attitude, a tantrum, or whining.  Trying to understand this lack of logic resulted in our realizing that much of our world thinks like a two year old.  As far as we can deduce, it boils down to this:  What I want to be true I will call truth even if that is clearly not the truth.  For example, Abe will say, “Will you play with me?” and I’ll respond, “I can’t right now, I’m changing April’s diaper.”  He’ll then respond, loudly, “No you’re NOT.”  Um, looking down to confirm my actions, yes I am.  We have these logic “fights” all the time.  I remember driving behind one of those big dump trucks that says on their rear, “Stay back 300 feet.  Not responsible for broken windshields!!”  My immediate thought was, Just because you claim to not be responsible doesn’t automatically mean you aren’t. And that’s when it hit me!  That’s just how our two year old thinks!!  Our world has the brain of a two year old!!  That explained so many things… I could write another whole blog about this and how it ties into the world’s rejection of Christ.

Well, this post is already way too long, but I have to quick add how sweet Abe is with April.  When she’s fussy (which, granted, isn’t often but it happens) I love how he consoles her.  I’ll hear him say “Shhh…” or “There, there sweetie” or, my favorite, when he sang Jesus Loves Me to her.  What a special heart he has.  I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of things; it’s impossible to put into words every amazing thing about Abe.  All I know is, just like his Daddy, he still makes me catch my breath at the beauty of who he is and who he is becoming.  God has blessed us with an amazing boy to love and raise (and of course, a little girl too, but this post is about Abe).