My Three-Year Old

My baby is now three years old.

I refuse to believe that.  He is still my baby and that will never change.

Oh wait-is this how it starts?  Is this how the youngest child develops "youngest child syndrome?"  In that case, let me start rejoicing that Noah is growing up.

This baby-excuse me-child of mine is one crazy boy.  He is full of energy (all. the. time.) and loves attention.  I have heard that most comedians are the youngest sibling so it looks like he is well on his way to that career choice.  He will do anything for a laugh.

Noah has a lot of toys (he should, he is the third kid), yet he never seems to play with them.  He will do puzzles all day long and try and sneak the kindle when I am not looking, but other than that, he just likes to make messes.

How does a kid who does not play with toys make messes?  Well, he leaves puzzles everywhere, builds blocks and makes them fall and leaves them everywhere and opens up markers, leaves the caps off and walks away.  Oh, and he does get out the occasional toy, but only to stack it on top of something and then walk away.

When Abby was little, I made sure she always put her toys away when she was done playing.  We cleaned up before nap time and before bed.  When Caleb was little, we never made it to cleaning up before nap time, but we cleaned up before bed.

With Noah, I am lucky if the house is somewhat clean by the weekend.

My little tornado is quite something, though.  He never ceases to surprise me with the things that he says or does.  Here comes my bragging moment-the kid is smart.  Really smart.  He does not miss a beat, puts together huge puzzles, kicks my butt at Memory and has amazing language skills.

To keep it humble, he still has not figured out that he can unzip his coat instead of trying to take it off over his head and getting it stuck.

Noah loves his friends and I was so happy at his party this year that he had his own guests and not just his older sibling's friends.  He talks about Lucian and Grant and Rosie and Austin all the time and I am so thankful that he gets to go to preschool with most of them next year.

Noah-you came into this world in a flash on 10/10/10 and you have not stopped surprising me.  I love you so much and look forward to seeing who you grow up to be.