I'm FREEEeeee

I hope I never forget the sound of Kirby's voice and the look of joy on his face and his hand raised high with all five fingers sprawled out as he shouts, "I'm FRREEEeeeeeee!!!!" 

Three.  I canNOT believe you are three years old.  Where did my little snuggly baby go?  You are growing into such a sweet, inquisitive young man.  I find it hard to believe that literally with every passing day, my love for you grows stronger and bigger.  Honestly.  With every passing day.  Don't get me wrong.  There are days when you make me want to SCuuhhhh-RrreAAAMmmmmm!!!!!  But at the rate my heart is growing with love for you, it is honestly going to explode inside me within the next few days.  Yikes!!  In my MOMS group at church, we read a chapter on Mary, where the author wrote about how she always loved Mary even when she was a little girl.  BUT she didn't like visions of the Blessed Mother with her heart aglow or pierced with thorns or a sword.  She just found it odd to see an internal organ from the outside.  But then the author became a mother, and she understood.  She felt like her heart, her new baby, was running about outside of her body.  Wow. That is EXACTLY how it feels.  I see you bee-bopping around the house, and I'm watching my heart bounce around outside of me.  There you are.  My heart.  And oh. Now I have two hearts running around outside me.   

As a new parent you hear so many horror stories about the "terrible twos." First of all, anyone who thinks that parenting isn't going to be hard and finds it hard to believe that there are "terrible" or tough stages, is just silly.  Second of all, I think they are wrong cause TWO has been a blast with you.  It comes with its challenges (and you have become more challenging the closer you have gotten to three).  I mean don't get me wrong.  There are a lot of days, when I'm really ready for bedtime, or maybe a beer at 5 or your dad to get home from work so I can catch some relief.  Some days feel like scenes from Groundhog Day.  BUT.  All in all, I have loved your two's.  You have learned so much with each passing day that I can't even begin to capture it all in print.

You are so sweet and snuggly when you aren't motoring around 150 miles an hour.  And by motoring, I literally mean motoring.  You are usually racing a truck, or pushing a car, or shunting a train, or hauling freight.  You don't stop, and you love anything that goes.  Crafts or activities aren't your favorite.  You just gotta get up and go, but when you do sit down to color or draw, you blow me away with a squiggle that really resembles a G, and you say "Look at my 'the letter G', Mom!"  You can rock out a puzzle. You are just about able to do your dinosaur floor puzzle by yourself.  You figure out the pieces and celebrate every one that you piece together. 

You struggle to nap because you just can't slow down long enough.  In fact, I have completely given up on it.  I'm probably going to regret it, but I've resorted to snuggle time with me in front of a movie (selfish momma move there because it buys me some down time and it buys me time with you right by my side!!!!!) or doing an activity together while your sister naps in lieu of your nap.  I just can't fight you on it any more. 

You understand emotions: love, fear, happy, sad, excitement. I don't understand how little people learn these things, but somehow you do, and it is so much fun to sit back and watch these emotions spread across your face and even in your voice.  You can be quite animated with your demands (yikes!) and play.  I love to hear your imagination running wild when you play with your trains.  You reenact actual scenes from movies or books.  The trains talk to one another, and sometimes, they are as snarky with each other as you can be with me or your father or your sister. 

You do such an amazing job at mass.  You have just gotten to where you sit and stand with us, all the while eating your goldfish and sipping your juice.  You aren't the quietest, but you rarely try to chatter.  And the number of masses we have struggled through with you (and we have struggled during some of them...sometimes you've been too bad to even be in the crying room), are all worth it because you are getting it.  You love to dip your whole hand (we are working on that...just a fingertip, please) in the holy water and cross yourself, but you just look like a baseball coach signaling a pitch. 

You have begun to tell jokes, and it is hysterical to hear you try to repeat a joke and mess it up and tell it all wrong, but the backwards way you tell it is even funnier than the original joke.  Knock knock jokes are a fun way to kill time in the car!!!

You LOVE books.  I love watching you "read" your books.  And honestly, after we read them a few times (over and over and over again), you tend to have the books memorized.  You can just about narrate all of the Polar Express (yes, we are STILL reading Christmas books).  Truly.  You.LOVE.book!!!!!  I love that you still sit in my lap at bedtime to read together.  It is probably my favorite time of the day together because you slow down long enough to melt into me.  I also love that after books, you insist on putting them away yourself and turning out the lights and climbing into bed, and then you ask me for a sip and prayers.  And all our prayers are interrupted as you shower me with kisses...you'll throw your arms around my neck and say, "one yast kiss...Mwwwwwahhhh!" 

You love to play with dad.  He'll carry you on his shoulders and sing Deedle-ump and run back and forth from the front door to the back door.  He'll race cars with you.  He takes you out in the snow (and man!!!!  have we had snow this year) for snow angels and snow balls, sledding and snow castles.  Dads are the coolest.  But you can be Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde as far as Dad is concerned.  One minute you love him, and the next, you are bossing him to "Get out of my room...mommy do it!"  We are working on THAT one!!!!

And oh my goodness.  You love your sister.  You love to make her laugh.  You love to get up in her face and give her hugs and kisses.  You have loved her from the first moment you laid eyes on her.  You have always been so sweet to her.  BUT you are a little fickle with her these days as she has begun to crawl and get into your toys!!!  That's another one we are working on...SHARING!!!  Yikes.

Potty Training.  Here's another parenting feat about which I've heard horror stories.  I had heard to wait until at least three before even trying with boys or wait "until he shows signs he is ready."  With every diaper change, you would fight me so I began talking up sitting on the potty, and the next thing I knew, one day in December, you randomly told me you wanted to sit on the potty, and boom.  You peed, and there has been no looking back.  You have done awesome.  I think you'll do just about anything for a treat: a Hershey kiss, a candy cane Hershey kiss, an M&M, and especially a peanut butter M&M.  I love that when I go potty, you want me to pick you up so you can get me a treat.  You ask if I have peed or pooped in my undies.  I have found this whole process to be very entertaining and very rewarding.  You are still in a diaper at night and (the occasional) nap; however, that is beginning to pose a bit of a problem.  You want so badly to be independent as do all kiddies your age, but why must you express your independence by *trying to* changing your own dirty diaper?  My goodness.  The carpets in your room.  Blech. 

So there you have it.  You are three.  Three amazingly fun-filled years have gone by.  Though, I miss your squishy little baby body, I feel like every day gets better and better so I truly look forward for every one that will come to us.  For some reason, I've been feeling more emotional about this birthday more than I did even your first birthday.  My heart swells with pride and love for all the amazing things you are learning and doing now and even with fear for all the years ahead of you and the things I will have to/can and/or cannot protect you from.  I've struggled to get into words exactly what I want to say to help me remember the sweet feel of your hands on my face, how little your body feels when I squeeze you tight, how sweet your little kisses are, how tight you hug me and rub or pat my back with your hand, or how it sounds when you tell me "I yuv you too."  So, I've been taking my time typing exactly how you make me feel.  The good, the bad, the sweet, the not-so-sweet!  I don't want to forget a bit of this most spectacularly amazing young boy that God has blessed me with during this stage that I'll vote as my absolute favorite (thus far!!!!).  I tell you every night, and I mean it every night,"I love you, Kirby.  It makes me happy to be your momma."