This post is long overdue...I should be ashamed! Okay, enough shame, onto the post. On September 3rd, John David turned three years old. I'm still getting used to saying that I have a three year old! He is such a joy and I'm going to tell you all about him. So if you don't want to read my gush, now would be a good time to navigate away from this page.
Okay, for those of you still with me here goes. John David is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful 3-year olds that I know. When I come in from a meeting or from playing tennis he asks how it went - without prompting. The other day when I answered him saying that my tennis match went well he said "Mommy, tell me more about it." He still loves to cuddle and gives plenty of hugs and kisses. He cares deeply. He will often remind us of people we need to pray for at night when saying our prayers. And he's even been known to ask if we could stop what we were doing to pray for someone. He loves books and is often able to recount the story after hearing it one time. And after we've read it a couple of times he can recite words that we leave out. Among his favorites are "The Little Hero of Holland" (from the Children's Book of Virtues), "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (from the Jesus Storybook Bible), any books about fire trucks, fire stations, fire fighters, etc, and any books about holidays.
He's also one of most imaginative little boys I know. He loves to play with his "Little People" figurines and his Main Street Fire Station. It's so much fun to watch him play and to listen to everything he dreams up that goes on in the little town that he has imagined. He often gets a story line from a t.v. show that he has watched and will play for hours based on the story line. His absolute favorite shows of all time is "Fireman Sam", a British cartoon on PBS Sprout On Demand. Admittedly, he watches much more television than I ever imagined I would allow. But there are some great shows on these days! We've done several of the projects together that we saw on Noggin'. And about 9 months ago he started asking me what words started with after watching Super WHY on PBS. He has learned so much and his vocabulary is unbelievable. Since he is such a little sponge we of course monitor VERY closely what he watches. John and I feel that it is our God-given responsibility to do so.
According to John David, we live in a fire station, I drive a fire truck and I'm lovingly referred to as the "Fire Lady" of our fire station. John is either "Fireman Elvis" (one of the characters on Fireman Sam) or "The Other Fireman" (that would be the other fire man that lives in our house besides John David). About 5 months ago he started to introduce himself as "Fireman Alex", which is a character in one of his favorite fire books, "Fantastic Firetruck". The first time he did this was when we went to visit a new school for him and we met the Preschool Director. I couldn't believe what had come out of his mouth and she wanted to know how she heard "Alex" out of John David. We both thought it was hilarious. When we went for the "Meet & Greet" at his new school in August she greeted him as Fireman Alex and he just beamed.
Given his fascination (I think obsession is a better description) with everything surrounding fire fighting, it was no question what the theme of his 3rd birthday party would be. We invited our family and some of his little buddies and played fire training games in our back yard. The kids used sidewalk chalk to draw flames on a house that was drawn on a parking pad in our yard.
They then used water balloons to put the fire out.
Then they filled up their water hoses and "put out the fire" in the bushes around the yard.
And those who wanted to participated in an obstacle course to save a kitty in a "tree". I made a cake in the shape of a fire truck, and after a lunch of "Three-alarm" chili, "hot" dogs, and "fire hoses" and cheese sauce (mac and cheese), we headed to the real fire station. We had so much fun and John David is still talking about it.
John David is very articulate and most of the time knows what he wants...and what he doesn't. He is definitely trying to develop his will and independence but for the most part is so very easy going. He goes to sleep between 9 - 10 p.m. and usually gets up between 8 -9 a.m. It still takes him a long time to settle down (at least when anyone besides Grandma is putting him to bed) and he wakes up once during the night and comes in to our room. He gave up his nap in the early spring and for the most part, that's a good thing, since he is going to bed easier and earlier since giving up his nap.
If you are still reading, the last thing I'll reiterate is what a total blessing he is to us and so many people. We thank God for him all the time and pray that one day he will know the love of a sibling. For now, we are living a life far better than we deserve and far more fulfilling than I could've ever imagined. We love our little guy!
