36 month (3 year!!) updates on Lil J

As Lil J approached the age of 2 I kept wondering what was in store.  I had heard so often about the dreaded "terrible twos" & was a tad worried, I must admit.  And yeah, I guess this past year held a lot more tantrums & a lot more time-outs & spanks & discussions about the behavior that led to those consequences.  But anytime I mentioned the upcoming "terrible twos", people would reassure me that it was NOTHING compared to the "threes".  Suddenly I was hearing EVERYONE saying that the 3s are sooo much worse than the 2s.  Despite the tantrums in the 2s I have to say it was a VERY fun year indeed.  It's a wonderful age.

Since he was born I kept wanting to be able to interact with him more & teach him more things & show him things.  And this past year he was finally at an age (especially in the second half of the year) where he was communicating himself really well & comprehending really well.  I had tried so many times in the past to take him places (zoos, parks, fire station, etc) & he was never very responsive.  Last November we took him to the zoo (the San Diego Zoo, much bigger than the other little tiny ones I've taken him to so far).  He still wasn't "really" into it, BUT it was a huge improvement over our past experiences.

But I must also say that the past couple of weeks have been especially tough.  I think I'm getting a preview of the 3s that I've heard so much about.  He wants to argue A LOT.  He's now talking back.  And he frequently just has such an ugly attitude about anything & everything.

His new thing (as of a few weeks ago) is "what's that? what's that? what's that?"  He points at EVERYTHING these days asking to know what it is.  I have to admit that I love this.  Sometimes (like when I'm driving) it's hard for me to know what exactly he's pointing at & we both tend to get a little frustrated, but for the most part it's wonderful.  And now he knows A LOT of things.  So now a lot of times he's really just asking ME, he wants me to answer his question.  So he'll get frustrated & tell me the answer or he'll praise me for getting the right answer.  It's really cute.

He's already been a beyond super picky eater, but it has gotten much worse in the past week or two.  And I weighed & measured him this morning & it shows-he has lost weight since I last weighed him at 34 months.  My growth percentile calculator that I've been using ends at 36 months.  So I will no longer be able to monitor that (if anyone reading knows of one that goes beyond 36 months please share).  But I will still be weighing & measuring on a somewhat regular basis from here on out.  Right now he is 37" tall (25-50%), weighs 32.8 lbs (50-75%), & still has a head circumference of 21.5% (>95%).  It's reassuring to see that his weight ranks that well because it seems that he doesn't eat enough, at least lately.  It seems that he is short for his age, although his pants size is right on for his age, while his shirt size is 5T (due to a long torso mostly).  His head circumference has been the same for quite a while now & has remained >95% for quite some time it seems.  I do have some trouble getting some of his shirts over his head, so maybe that's a sign that he does have a big head for his age?  And we just bought him a helmet & the toddler helmet was too small, we had to get the ages 5 & up helmet for him.  Although looking at him I don't think he has an obviously big head.  I'm hoping it means he has a big brain, LOL, & he'll be a very smart boy.

April 1st was Lil J's first night sleeping in his own room.  He did soooo well.  I am so proud of him.  I was worried that it would be hard for him after spending almost 3 years in his parent's room.  It was so cute the next morning, as soon as he woke up he came running to our room & hopped in bed with us.  He did that for several days.  Then we had a few nights where he woke up & couldn't go back to sleep so we let him sleep with us, in our bed (we've never done that before).  I was worrying it might become a habit that's hard to break, but I also must admit that I really enjoy cuddling with him.  He does like to push with his legs while he's sleeping, which keeps hubby awake.  But I actually like it for some reason.  I think it actually reminds me of when he was still inside of me, pushing on me.  After a few nights of that he has settled in well though & has been sleeping through the night well in his room in his bed.  Now when he wakes in the morning sometimes he heads to our bedroom & sometimes (if one of us is in the kitchen, as hubby is during the week at 6 am making breakfast for himself & my stepson as they get ready for work & school) he hangs out in the living room/dining room/kitchen area.  He's never been one to stick to a routine for very long (always keeps me on my toes!) so I'm sure even this current morning trend will change at some point soon.

This morning we told him it was his birthday.  We told him he's THREE.  And we sang happy birthday to him.  His uncle & aunt called him to sing & a little bit later his grandma called too to sing to him.  He was really excited about all the singing.  He keeps yelling out "happy day!", meaning "happy BIRTHday!", hehe.

Tomorrow we are going to give him his gift.  We got him a bike for his birthday.  This is the bike we got him, although we actually got it at Costco (for less money) at Christmas time & stored it away until now.  I knew that it was a seasonal item for Costco & that they wouldn't have it once the Christmas season ended.  It says ages 3-6 on the box, so I thought it would be great for his birthday.  He LOVES bikes & he really likes Lightning McQueen too (although he likes Tow Mater more).  I can't find a pic online of the helmet we got him, but it also has Lighting McQueen on it & it came with a bike bell that has Lightning McQueen on it.  We also got him a bike horn.

And a week from tomorrow we are having a birthday party for him.  We hope he has a blast.

And soon (probably May 19th) we're going to take him to Sea World for the first time.  We're hoping he LOVES it.