three and a half

WOW.

My baby boy is three and a half today! My memories of him being born are so clear it could be yesterday. It's been so amazing watching him grow and develop into a little boy. I don't want to forget any of these moments.

Here are some things about him now, and some funny stories...

**He is a boy through and through. He loves to be rough, wrestle, climb, jump, test the limits. If you were to ask him to choose between a cute little kitten or a scary monster, he'd choose the monster every time.

**However, his favorite colors are pink and purple...but this is all thanks to his beautiful friendship with his best friend Jayda. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES purple (and pink) -- so Isaiah does too. If you can catch him in the right mood though, his favorite colors are red and yellow. He often says, "I don't like blue." :)

**He loves to have company while he plays and often asks for someone to come play with him. Isaiah now, as of the last few months, accepts Levi as company while he plays. Rarely does he like to play alone (these last few days in the warm weather have been an exception - he's spent lots of time outside riding his bike all by himself!!) Even if he's watching a TV show will ask me to watch it with him. Almost daily he asks if we can call a friend to come over or he'll ask "Who's coming over today?" I try to plan plenty of playdates to keep up with my social little boy.

**This makes my life easier when it's time to drop Isaiah off at Sunday School, childcare (while I'm at my exercise classes), Laura's or when a babysitter comes over. He rarely gets upset when it's time for Mark or I to leave him and is usually smiling and playing when I peek at him. But he always has a HUGE smile and hug for me when I come to pick him up. That's the best feeling in the world -- makes my hour long workout class worth it (most days, yuck!).

**He's been nap free for several months now and most days makes it to bedtime relatively happy. But if it's been a busy day or we've had to wake him up in the morning (to go to Laura's) then we know to expect a rough evening from about 6:00-8:30. However, from experience it's well worth it to suffer through the few hours then fight him at bedtime if he does nap. The few days that he's had a nap in the past few months, getting him asleep before 10:00 is next to impossible. Much too late... and no break for mommy and daddy!

**Isaiah's become very interested in what he wears and likes to pick out his clothes. He is getting better at picking things out that match, but 9 out of 10 times will be in 1 of 3 different shirts--Go Fish Guys, UNI Panther's jersey or Spiderman. Thankfully he doesn't push the issue too much when I just help him get dressed in something else. He also prefers to wear "comfy" pants -- pretty much anything but jeans. I think this is partially because he goes potty all by himself now and getting jeans up and down is tricky.

**He loves Spiderman and I'm not really sure why. We have no Spiderman toys other than one mask that he loves to wear, I think this love may stem from Austin (his buddy from when Kammy watched him) who loves Spiderman, too. He points out anything Spiderman that we see in the store (including the fruit snacks that he convinced me to buy yesterday:) Really he loves any super hero and talks a lot about Superman too (because that is daddy's favorite), and likes to pretend to be a "super hero."

**Isaiah hates to wear socks. Most days we don't even fight the battle anymore and he goes without socks in his boots. If we are at home, he will often be in pants only - no socks or shirt :)

**He is usually a really good boy, but sometimes does things he knows he shouldn't (duh). His favorite thing to say when I correct him is "I'm just doing what I do best," or "just let me do what I do best." ha ha. I'm not sure where this came from, but it's so cute--and makes it hard to tell him to stop--but I do it anyway.

** The other day Levi really wanted milk. He was standing on a chair at the counter screaming, "MILK, MILK, MILK, MAMA, MILK, MAMA!!!" I wasn't ignoring him, but was doing something else so he finally yells, "ISAIAH MILK." Isaiah yells back at him, "Levi I can't get you milk, I'm not a grownup." :)

**We were reading our devotional tonight and it was talking about how we can live peacefully without worrying because of Jesus. The lesson asked if you ever worry about things. He didn't answer, so Mark asked him, "Isaiah, do you worry about anything?" He answers, "yeaaa" in a whiny voice. Mark says, "you do? what do you worry about?" Isaiah says, "Frogs." What? Where did that come from??

**Now that the weather's been warmer, we've spent lots of time outside. He likes to walk on the big piles of snow and say, "Look! I'm walking on the snow just like Jesus walked on the water." :)

**One day my mom was watching Isaiah and she asked him if she should get her hair cut shorter or keep it longer and he said, "You should keep it longer so you have more to brush." I can't remember this story for sure, so I'll ask my mom...check back later to see the corrected version of the story.

I could list a million stories of how cute, funny, and sweet Isaiah is... but I'll stop for now.