our g is three

My little Sugar Boy,

How can I possibly find words to describe what you mean to me? How much I adore waking up to you crawling into bed with me in the morning asking for your back to be tickled? How much it means to me that you, perfect little you, belong to me? There are not words, my boy. I don't have them.

It seems impossible that when people ask you how old you are and you respond, "Ta-ree!" and hold up those perfectly formed three fingers, that you are really THREE WHOLE YEARS old. You are a boy now, and I really can't believe that I am a mama to a boy-- no baby left in you at all anymore.

When I say "boy" what I really mean is that you are this whole little person-- a boy that is not going to be mine forever, and that I am beginning to see you a little bit more as the person you will become. How can I even explain what I am trying to say? It is this sort of realization that I am raising a person, and you hitting the age of three has made me so aware of the kind of person that you are.

Georgie, you are such a good little person. And I don't say that to pat myself on the back. Yes, I have done my best to help you learn to be a good boy, but the truth of it is that you were born good. You have a pure, kind, gentle soul. You are calm and easy to please. You like to be a good listener and you feel sad when you know that you have made a bad choice. When you know you have done something wrong you beg to go to your room to "think about it," and it is one of my most favorite things to eavesdrop in on you in your room saying things like, "First I threw the ball in the sink, then I turned on the water, then I spilled the water on the floor... I thinked about it, Mommy!" And then you come out and tell me what you thought about and we talk about what you will do differently next time to be a good listener. Sometimes it is hard for me to take these little talks as seriously as you do, and I have to stifle laughter and try to reinforce your active little conscience.

You are such a tender big brother to our baby. You love LOVE her and want to hold her and make her smile. You don't like it when she is sad and can often be heard trying to calm her (you use the Portuguese words that daddy always says and it is so sweet to hear you whispering, "Calma-te, Baby" over and over to her). She is your "Pearlengy" (long story), and I hope you will protect her and love her always.

One of the best things about you at this age is your sense of humor. You say funny things constantly and you love making us laugh. And for every one thing you do that you know is funny, there are dozens of things you do in all innocence and sincerity that are equally hilarious. Like when you told me your green smoothie smelled like a leaf, or when someone in church used the term "PPI" (stands for personal priesthood interview) and you exclaimed, "Ewww! We don't have pee-pee EYES! We have pee-pee BUMS!" loud enough for way too many people to hear. I love that you asked if Jesus rode in a balloon from his "toop" (tomb) up to heaven, and I love that you used the word "drowsy" to describe how allergies made you feel.

And of course, my boy, you are still 3. You are an exceptionally good little boy, but you definitely do have your moments of just being 3. You made an attempt to throw your first full blown temper tantrum in the car a little while back, and I really couldn't take you seriously because you are so not a tantrumer. You screamed and wailed and got so frustrated that I wasn't talking to you. I pretended to get a phone call and said into the phone cheerfully, "Oh hi! Yes, I don't talk to people who are screaming. I only talk to people who talk. Okay, bye!" And then your cries stopped and you sucked in some air to get control of your little voice and started whimpering to me about why you were upset. And that was that. You haven't tried it since. You are pretty easy to reason with and explain things to.

You have gotten more assertive with other kids (good thing), and you don't always share as readily as you used to (not a good thing), but you can usually be talked into making the right choice. You cry when we leave Nene and Papa's house pretty much every time, and you do not have a lot of patience with being teased when you have just woken up. You occasionally like to throw things thisclose to your baby sister just to see if we will get upset about it, and you make messes wherever you go. This is all part of you at three, and to be honest, I kind of enjoy your challenging moments. It feels good to be able to give you those hugs after a time-out, or to go from I-have-had-it-up-to-here into the soft, sweet place where you say, "I am sorry, Mama" and to know that it is all just part of helping you and me both grow into the people we need to be.

Please don't turn into a monster as a teenager to get back at me for being such a nice little boy, okay?

I love you, George. With my whole soul.

Mama

And now, some photos from this little boy's birthday celebrations (there were at least three). I am not really the kind of mom who picks themes and spends hours in decoration preparation and invites people over for a perfectly coordinated and beautiful party. I am just not good at that kind of thing, I guess. But, despite the lack of those details, our boy was celebrated and happy, and we had fun sharing him with some of our dear friends and family.

The morning of his birthday started off with a couple of surprise visitors and gifts. My Grandma and Grandpa stopped by with a card (complete with three "tickets" inside) and a present, and then one of our neighbors came over with a quilt that he had made just for George.

At lunchtime we met up with my BFF and her little boys at Chuck-E-Cheese. George had been there once before (about a year and a half ago) and he has talked about it since, so we thought it would be fun to just go let the boys play for a few hours. As you can see, G's skee-ball form could use some work-- overhand throwing is not very effective when there is a glass panel you have to aim under.

My boy and me.

The boys were in a trance watching Mr. Cheese and his friends on stage. And then we used a few tokens to get our picture drawn in one of those little machine things and the results were so funny every time. Look at the boys. Cracks me up.

That night we kept it simple. We opened presents with just our little family and then headed to the theater to see "Toy Story 3." Georgie's favorite present may have been the DumDum suckers he got that you can see him sucking on here. These three people are my besties.

After the movie we came home and sang and ate the space cake that I had made him at his request. It wasn't that yummy, if you must know. I love the concentration that it takes him to hold up those three little fingers just right.

A few days later we had a celebration with John's family. I so love the extra blowing help coming from Logan in this picture.

And the festivities continued until we had our final birthday hurrah with my family when they got back in town from their summer vacation. After his other cake not being very tasty I decided to go with chocolate cake and frosting this time and just make it into a basketball all-star jersey. Not super pretty, but G loved it and it tasted good. Again, notice the concentration on holding those fingers up right.

Here we are, our little happy family celebrating the big brother turning three. I am the only person in our family who knows how to look at the camera and smile, apparently.

More summer celebrations coming soon...