Joshua Jace Holleman, I am blown away by the fact that today is your 3rd birthday. That just doesn't seem possible!
Your daddy and I are so very proud of you, sweet boy. You have grown up so much this past year! You know all your colors, can count to 100 (
almost all by yourself!), know your alphabet and the sound each letter makes, can spell your name, Luke's name, "momma, daddy, cat, & dog" all by yourself. You can do puzzles by yourself. You know your phone number. You are even starting to add small numbers together and spell other words. The other day I told Daddy I was going to take you to the "P-O-T-T-Y" and you said, "That spells POTTY!" Shoot. You have us figured out! It won't be long before we will have to stop spell-talking because you will know everything we're saying!
You speak so clearly now. All those sweet, mispronounced words are pretty much a thing of the past. You talk in complete sentences and are usually very polite, asking, "Momma, could I please have something to drink?" instead of, "Drink, Momma!"
The "trying two's" started a couple months before your 2nd birthday, and they are still going strong! You are so much like me - stubborn as a mule! If something doesn't go your way, you are quick to pitch a fit, and sometimes it gets pretty rough. We are really trying to instill in you that when Momma or Daddy asks you to do something, instead of saying, "NO!", you should say, "Yes, Momma. Okay, Daddy." Sometimes you catch yourself and remember what we've taught you, other times you have a complete meltdown.
I try to tell you how proud I am of you every day. Lately, you tell yourself, "Joshua, I'm so proud of you!" when you do something good. It's too funny. Or, if I say, "Joshua, I'm so proud of you," you'll say, "and Daddy's really, REALLY proud of me!" Haha.
You are becoming so independent. You like to try things for yourself. We are working on teaching you to put your clothes on by yourself and "make" your bed. You like to "help" with the laundry, and get things like diapers and wipes for me. When I am cleaning, you run around the house with a rag, wiping things down.
In August, we started potty training, and boy, were those first few weeks rough! You would do great, then regress, then do great again, then regress. FINALLY in November it just seemed to click, and now you almost never have accidents. You still wear a diaper at nap time and bed time, but we have time to work on that.
It has been so fun to watch you grow into your role as a big brother. You will do
anything to make Luke laugh. You tell him, "no no, Lukey," when he is getting into something he shouldn't. You like to teach him things, like how to do puzzles. You read to him and play cars and trains with him. You chase each other around the house giggling and squealing. You kiss and hug him and tell him, "I love you, Luke," every night before bed. Sometimes, you take advantage of your big brother role (I NEVER did that to my younger siblings, haha!) and take toys away from Luke, but we are working on sharing and playing nicely. Most of the time you do great, and your baby brother absolutely adores you!
You are obsessed with Toy Story and Cars. You can act out the movies from beginning to end with your little Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen toys, and I often catching you doing this. It is so cute! I used to do this with just about every Disney movie I watched, so you come by it honestly! :-)
You LOVE to sing (wonder where you get that from?!). Some of your favorites are, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "O Holy Night," "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," and "Jesus Loves Me." A couple months ago we caught you playing individual notes on the piano and singing the corresponding pitches back to yourself! I think piano and voice lessons are definitely in the near future!
Winter is a little tough for you, because you are a VERY energetic little boy. Staying cooped up all day every day tends to drive you (and me, LOL) batty. We have started running "relays" a couple times a day to get some of your energy out. We run, skip, hop, do jumping jacks, walk backwards, crawl, etc. across the room over and over again. This is great because it keeps Momma in shape, too! :-)
You are such a loving little boy. You give kisses and hugs pretty willingly, and you are always saying, "I love you, Momma." I swear it doesn't get any better than that!
You love shopping and going places. I often take just you along on my errands because you are so easy to have along. You behave so well when we are out and about, and it's nice for me to have a little one-on-one time with you.
The last time we were at the doctor, you weighed 34 lbs. and were 36 inches tall, but I am certain you have grown since then. We will find out when we go in for your 3-year check-up tomorrow!
I just know I am forgetting things, but I think this letter is long enough for now. Joshua Jace Holleman, we thank God for blessing us with YOU! You are a perfect fit for our family, and we love everything about you (even on the days you make us pull out our hair, haha). Happy 3rd birthday, precious boy! We love you!
