Three Years Old!

Last Friday our little big boy turned THREE years old! It's hard to believe that three years ago he arrived in this world and made us parents. Though we have had some trying moments, I can honestly say that the past three years of parenting Will have been pretty darn easy (see the first bullet point below). Here's a little about Will at 3 years old:

- overall very easy going, sometimes timid, fairly sensitive, ALWAYS INCREDIBLY SWEET (frequently gives out unsolicited hugs, kisses, and I love yous to me, Billy, Cate and Laney)

- weighs 34 pounds (77th percentile); 38 1/2 inches tall (75th percentile)

- enjoys coloring and presses down really hard when he colors

- loves to be read to and "reads" to himself (he has memorized parts of lots of books and will sit and "read")

- knows his colors, shapes, sings ABCs, can identify 1/3 to 1/2 of his letters; counts 1-10 really well and 11-20 pretty good

- loves to sing and knows the words to some fairly random songs like Barbara Ann (Beach Boys) and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

- can recognize and write his name (somewhat legibly)

- still enjoys working puzzles and looking through his flashcards

- making progress with potty training (just ended a 4 3/4 day streak with no accidents)

- attends school (aka Mother's Day Out) two days a week from 9-2:30 and is enrolled in weekly swim lessons at Emler Swim School (we LOVE Emler--more on that in another post)

- switches between Little Einsteins, Chuggington, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse when he gets to watch an episode

I decided to interview Will this evening--results follow...

1. What is your name? Will Lepak (pronounced Wuh-Pack)

2. How old are you? whispers "three" after he holds up three fingers

3. Who is your best friend? Ella (He normally tells me his best friend is either Laney, Piston his stuffed panda, or Rachel from school; however, we had just went on a walk with Ella, baby Van, and my friend, Paige, when I asked him this question, so Ella must have been fresh on his mind. At his party he was definitely preoccupied with finding and playing with Rachel.)

4. What is your favorite book? Five Wishing Stars ("favorites" in this category change every few days)

5. What is your favorite movie? The Lion King

6. What is your favorite thing to do/play with? My kitchen stuff (not sure this is accurate because he looked behind me, saw his kitchen, and then said that answer)

7. What is your favorite animal? Horse (surprise to me...)

8. What is your favorite thing to do at school? Play with Rachel (These two crack me up--Will comes home and says stuff like "Rachel goes to ballet" and "I taught Rachel to play Legos")

9. What is your favorite song? Itsy Bitsy Spider (again, surprise to me...)

10. What is your favorite food? First he said watermelon (there was a toy slice of watermelon in his line of sight) and he doesn't really care for watermelon, so I told him to pick again and he said raisans. Answering for him is hard because he likes such a variety of foods, but I would probably say peanut butter, donuts, or pizza.

Last Wednesday we threw Will a birthday party with all of his friends at Jumpstreet, an indoor trampoline park. His friends Rachel, Miller (and baby sister Helen), Caroline, Harry, and Ella (and baby brother Van) were all able to come jump! Will jumped until he could jump no more, but he was not a fan of being sung to (that timidness I mentioned earlier surfaced when all eyes were on him). Below are a few pictures from the party (apologies for some of these pics--it is so freakin' hard to get pictures of small children jumping!)

A little video of some Ring Around the Rosie action--there was no way Cate was going to be left out, so if she doesn't score very high on her SAT, we know what happened...