36 Months

Dear Madison and Jackson,

I told you both the day you were born that you weren't allowed to grow up. I think I knew that the baby days were going to be relatively easy compared to later on. I was definitely right. You both get harder and harder to deal with on a daily basis. Gone are the days of reasoning with you. We really had a great run of explaining things then asking you if you understood. If you said yes we knew you got it and your tantrum would stop. Or if we said "if you don't stop whining you're going to get a time out" you would immediately stop whining. Now you just yell "NO!" or "Don't WANT to".
The conversations you have are so funny. You do this thing where Maddie will ask Jackson if a shoe is a pen. Jackson will reply, "nooooo". Then she'll ask if it's a car and he'll reply, "nooooo".
That goes on and on. You have your fair share of fighting and arguing but when you play nicely together it is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Dear Jackson,

Your behavior can be a little scary to me at times. In the last few days you've had moments that you seem like a different kid. You are so defiant and won't look at us when we need to talk to you seriously. I'm sure this is just normal 3 year old behavior and will pass but sometimes I wonder if it's leading to something more. Then comes the question of how to handle it. Time outs do absolutely nothing for you. I always reward your good behavior but at this point nothing we're doing is keeping you from taunting your sister, or calling us by our first name, or telling us to "stop it", or throwing things you're not supposed to, or flailing around when we take you away from something you shouldn't be doing. The majority of the time you are a sweet, cuddly, hysterical, happy boy but the times you're not are just exhausting for us.

Our driveway has a very slight incline to it and up until last week you weren't able to pedal your tricycle up. You would get stuck and whine for us to push you. Last week you finally figured it out. You pedal all around now and don't need any help. You love to ride and it's so fun to see you so happy.

Some of your funny phrases are "I doing it!" and "Is dis goes?". You'll do a shape sorter in front of me putting the square in the circle and say, "Is dis goes?". I'll say, "noooo". Then you'll put it in the triangle and say "Is dis goes?". You love to kid around and make me laugh.

You've started making this shy/embarrassed facial expression. You mostly do it when we first see someone but you'll also do it if you realize we hear you singing or something.

You've been singing the ABC song along with Madison for a little while now but since you're always together I never heard you do it by yourself. When I took you to the doctor alone the other day Dr. C asked you if you knew your ABCs and you immediately sang the entire song to her. I was shocked that you knew it all and that you sang in front of her. You count to 10 very well on your own although prefer to abbreviate it by saying "1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10".

I think you finally know your colors. When you're not bouncing around, throwing things, or jumping off of things, you are very happy to sit with me. I absolutely love these times. You let me wrap my arms around you and I squeeze you and kiss you. I wouldn't trade you for the world!

Dear Madison,

For some strange reason you've started waving your hand at me like a dog does when they want you to pet them. You will paw at me when you want something. It's almost like you're trying so hard to control yourself from whining that you do that to get my attention instead. Like your brother, you have also stopped taking no for an answer. It's so hard to know how to deal with it. I know giving in is just rewarding the behavior and the next time you're going to know that if you just scream loud enough or long enough I'll give in but most of the time it is just SO much easier to give in. Since I'm with you 24/7 I just don't have the energy to stand my ground every single time. I hope this phase passes quickly and I'm not creating a monster.

The balance bike I got you last summer is your favorite thing to do outside. The first few times we took you outside to ride it you were able to push along fine but the seat was a little too low so you would end up pushing yourself up and off the seat when your feet hit the ground. Daddy raised it up for you the other day and by the next day you were gliding a good twenty feet with your feet off the ground. The day after that you were gliding that far and around a corner. You look like you've been doing it all your life. I'm really amazed at how well it has taught you to balance.

You have this funny way of saying things like if I say "Let's go outside now." you'll say, "but my shoes are in my room.". Or if I say "Mommy's making dinner." you'll say "but Jackson's in the living room." It usually doesn't make much sense what you say and it's so funny because you're so sincere when you say it.

Lately you've been ignoring Daddy when he comes home from work. You won't say hi or kiss him or even look at him. It makes him very sad.

You are still very bossy with Jackson. "You stop that right now, Jackson. That's not nice. Do you understand?"

You try to count from 10 to 20 but you say the teen numbers out of order.

You've started this funny nuzzling thing with me. You'll basically rub your face in my chest and I cuddle you. It's so sweet!! You are such a cute little peanut and I love you more than you'll ever know.