PJ Party

Dax's third birthday party was a pajama party! We invited friends and family over to our house to celebrate, play, and eat donuts. It was so much fun!

Thank you to everyone who was able to help us celebrate our special boy. Dax had a blast!

Preschooler

I had a surreal moment a few weeks ago when I was looking through Burnsville's ECFE classes for spring. I was debating if there were any that Dax, Addy, and I might want to do when I noticed that the toddler classes were listed as birth to 36 months. As in 3 years. "But Dax is almost 3," I thought. Can it be possible?! I quickly concluded that our adorable, wonderful boy is now considered a preschooler. If anyone knows of a way to stop time, please share because this mama would be very interested.

His new three-year-old status should have been obvious - every day Dax continues to amaze us. He is sweet (When kissing him goodnight, "Mommy, was that an 'I love you' kiss?"), funny (loves to tell jokes and has the BEST belly laugh), smart (insane vocabulary and regularly asks us what words mean), kind ("Thanks for making this yummy dinner" almost every day), creative (His favorite kind of play is imaginative and astounding), and just plain fun.

Being a goofball with his desperately-needing-a-haircut hair in a ponytail

Here's a snapshot of Dax at age 3 (it gets a bit long - I couldn't help but write a lot about our complicated little guy):

While he's on the small side (see his well check post), Dax is in mostly size 3T clothes. We retired the 2Ts because the pants were ridiculously short even though they are still loose in the waist. He's definitely growing, though, and it's fun to see the new things he can reach - his most recent excitement was being able to turn light switches on and off.

He also likes to plug in headphones when we are listening to music so only he can hear it

That has also inspired some more independence. He rarely wants to play alone, but has been so responsible and helpful with Addy and likes doing the few chores we have given him. He always clears his dishes from the table after eating and helps put away his toys. He also helps start and unload the dishwasher and loves to sort clean socks and fold Addy's burp rags. From time to time he wants to sweep and, even though he's still working on doing it effectively, we like the enthusiasm.

Folding burp rags

He is not only responsible with chores, but we can also trust him while he sleeps. Dax moved into a big boy bed last May and has been amazing ever since then. He calls for us when he wakes up, but does not get out of bed until we come to get him. We have been very impressed with how well he listens and follows directions.

While he typically behaves well and can be really shy in new or unfamiliar situations, he is also full of energy at home and daycare. He has a large collection of dress-up clothes and is almost constantly creating an adventure - we never know if we'll have a child or a superhero, hiker, astronaut, "worker" (construction worker), wolf, giraffe, monkey, knight, pirate, or one of many other characters that he likes to play. He jumps off stairs, crawls around, runs laps, climbs up the couches (or us!), and works off his energy in more ways than we could imagine. He keeps us on our toes and we love to see his creativity.

Okee Dokee brother junior

He's a power ranger playing with his dress-up guy

Life as an astronaut

Mail carrier Dax at the Shakopee library

Construction worker

Getting Addy in on the fun

Taking Jake's order while playing restaurant

That also translates into his calm activities. He loves to build with Legos, do puzzles, make a castle or zoo with blocks, play with stuffed animals or action figures, and do art or craft projects. We still read a lot and he remembers and uses words that we would never expect to hear from a young child. It makes his creative play even more interesting and elaborate.

Q tip painting

Lego semi

The Schulz zoo

Christmas presents Dax painted for his grandparents

We LOVE puzzles!

His Lego collection is growing

Pulling weeds with his garden gloves on (and, yes, that is a pliers)

Probably the most interesting use of his creativity has been what we think is an imaginary friend - Chicken Boober. Awhile back he started talking about Chicken Boober and will randomly tell us things about him. "Chicken Boober likes to eat chicken." "Chicken Boober blows bubbles in his milk." We never know when we'll learn something new about Chicken Boober, but it always catches us off guard and makes us laugh.

Goofball

He also catches us off guard with the questions he asks and things that he remembers. He has a puzzle of the 50 states and can name and place many of them without help. He regularly asks what words mean when we're having a conversation and will then use them correctly later. I put on a CD we hadn't listened to in awhile and he pointed out that it was the CD we listened to on our spring break vacation to Colorado - in the gray Colorado car (rental vehicle). He knows many of the strange animals at the zoo from our visits and will remember details about what they were doing at previous visits. We love to engage him in conversation and hope to continue to foster his interest in the world around him.

Our curious boy

Dax has recently shown an interest in a variety of games. He got a few new ones for Christmas and we love to play with him. Current favorites include Hoot Owl Hoot, Guess Who, and Kids on Stage (a charades-like game that I had from when I was young), but he has a fairly big collection and likes to rotate through all of them.

He also got some new movies for Christmas and has been SO excited to watch them. We watch up to a half hour of something most days and he has been requesting movies. We watch them over several days, but his memory of the events is amazing and it is fun to see his excitement over this relatively new form of entertainment. (The video shows him singing a song from An American Tail (Fievel) as he tried to fall asleep.)

I could go on and on describing Dax's interests and personality, but will end with his sweet faith. We pray at meals and when he's going to sleep and Dax has started joining in with his own prayers. He often thanks God for making all the animals and for providing Addy. He also enjoys reading Bible stories, listening to Veggie Tales, and asks us lots of questions. He has started participating in the children's sermon at church and we are excited to get him involved in Sunday School. It is such a beautiful thing to see him developing a love of Jesus.

We are so thankful to have been chosen to be Dax's parents. We love his variety of interests, kind heart, observant personality, incredible memory, and loving attitude. We cannot wait to see who he becomes as he embarks on a new stage in his childhood journey.

Birthday Boy

Dax's celebrating started the day before his birthday this year with his daycare party. They decorated for him, had a special giant "cupcake" muffin for breakfast, cookies for snack, and got a big boy gift (scissors, glue, and a preschool dry erase book) from Denise. It was a special day for our special boy!

Dax got to choose the morning activity - Legos!

Happy birthday buddy!

Then, we were home for the big day. He woke up excited to be three and wanted to open his presents right away. He was thrilled with a new Lego set (tree house/lake house/farm house), The Book With No Pictures, a new game (Cootie), and Despicable Me 2. We immediately had to open the Legos, played the game right after breakfast, and read the story 3 times before lunch. They were all a hit!

I made Dax a special breakfast and his favorite lunch - mac and cheese with chicken nuggets. He got a haircut in the afternoon, enjoyed himself at play class, and we ended his special day with a birthday dinner at Applebee's (because, in Dax's words, "It starts with Apple and has bees, which I don't like because they sting me, but they're not real bees, it's just the name.").

Bear toast for breakfast

Birthday sundae

Throughout the day I also completed a birthday interview with him that I hope to continue every year to build a memory book. I got the idea from Pinterest, but didn't love any of the versions so I made my own to document all of the things I wanted to be able to remember and compare.

Still need to choose a picture!

We have his birthday party coming up in a few days and are excited to continue celebrating Dax and showing him how special he really is.