The Kalal Family: Our Three-Year Old

Our crazy, goofy, energetic, smart three-year-old is quite the little boy. Here is a little taste of what he's been up to these days...

-He switched to a big boy bed now. The transition was no big deal for him, and he LOVES reading stories with mom or dad while laying in bed, and often asks us, "Lay with me for a little while."

-He loves his books. It's hard to even pick a current favorite of his, because he really does like a huge variety of them right now. He does still love to talk about the pictures and what is happening in the illustrations. He also is really good at filling in a few words here and there. The cutest thing is to hear him somewhere off by himself, 'reading' a familiar book to himself. A few of his recent favorites are: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Fun on the Farm (the loudest, most annoying book in our home), Whose Has This Tail, Green Eggs and Ham, and Mercer Mayer's Grandma, Grandpa & Me.

-His imagination is REALLY starting to come alive. A few of his favorite things are to pretend he's a firefighter, play with his cars and trucks, talk to himself (as if he's giving a play-by-play of his actions), and go fishing with anything long enough to be considered a pole and line (i.e. belts, my robe tie, his play tape measure, etc.).

-He has really good manners for a three-year-old. It's pretty cute how he says, "You're welcome," or "Anytime," when someone thanks him for something. He also likes to say, "Please, please, please with sugar on top," when he knows that what he's asking is a bit of a stretch.

-He loves to play outside and eat snow (but he'll tell you he only eats the clean snow). He loves to help shovel and simply walk around in the snow. When it's warm enough to make snowmen, he definitely loves that. And a recent favorite was sledding down the deck stairs with daddy...

-He is a little rough (he's a boy!) sometimes, but for the most part, he's really good with Izzy. He looooves her so much, and always gives her a hug and a kiss before bed, when we get to daycare, or when he leaves the house for anything. He apologizes to her when he should, tells her if something was an accident, and pats her or gives her a kiss in a specific spot if needed ;) She absolutely adores him back, and is his little shadow. He is working on sharing with her, and they both are getting daily lessons on how to take turns OR play together (and what that really looks like!!)

-He is a daddy's boy. Even though I have him saying, "I'm mommy's boy FOREVER," I know his heart belongs to daddy. The day has arrived ;) He always prefers daddy to read him bedtime stories and tuck him in, he loves to tag along to the store or on errands with dad, he always wants to know where dad is or when he'll be home. He tries to tell me, "Daddy be home soon," if he WANTS daddy to be home soon (even though he knows, "Daddy be home late" means daddy won't be home to tuck him in).

-His speech has improved in incredible ways over the past year. I look back and remember that when he turned two I was concerned that he wasn't putting many words together to make phrases, and he had a very small vocabulary. Well, apparently he was storing it all up, and it has spilled out now--and then some. His vocabulary is pretty incredible, and the way he remembers things and makes sense of his world is simply amazing to witness. He is much more understandable now, and although some of his sounds aren't yet clear, if you have a context for what he's saying, you can pretty much always figure out what he's trying to tell you.

-He is fully potty trained, even nighttime. He gets up on his own when he needs to at night. He can nearly always manage his clothing (jeans are still a struggle). He has a slight aversion to going #2... but we're working through it ;)

-He loves to roughhouse. Chasing around the house, hiding, jumping on the bed, running in the house, throwing balls in the house, crashing cars and trucks into each other, etc. etc. etc.... it has got to be a boy thing.

-He loves his cartoons like the next kid, with a few of his favorites being Micky Mouse Clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and his hands-down favorite: Paw Patrol. He also has started to have the attention span to sit and watch a movie. He likes The Lion King, and Ice Age.

-He has fewer and fewer tantrums (yahoo!!!), and those that he has last for less and less time. He's finally to the point we can reason with him a little bit. He still gets a time out here or there, but he mostly is a good listener ;)

-We're starting to get more questions from him. This is new in the last couple of months, and it's so fun (and sometimes exhausting) trying to explain things to him. He is starting to want to know why, when, where, and what about things.

Cooper, you are an amazing little boy. You have such an energetic spirit and a zest for life. We love being your parents, and we look forward to seeing your smile every single morning. You make us laugh. You make us think. You make us appreciate the little things. You make us consider the things we do and say every minute. You make our lives so full. You make us so HAPPY! We can't wait to watch you grow and change. You are such a great kid!!

We celebrated Cooper's birthday this past weekend, and it was a blast!! He had a wonderful time being the center of attention all day long. All of our family came over, and as is usual with both sides, he was spoiled beyond belief! It was a really fun day, and it is amazing what a difference a year makes!