Dear Doster- Three Years! (A few months late!)

     

Sweet Doster,

It is hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that you are three years old. It seems like we were just celebrating your second birthday!  The last year has gone by faster than any other of my life, and has also been my favorite.

You are 30 pounds of pure joy and my heart is happiest when we are together.

Last Day As A Two-Year-Old

A Party Fit For A Hero

A Little Fun On At The SC State Museum On Your Actual Birthday  

Your verbal skills have gone off the scale this year. I LOVE talking to you. You never cease to amaze me with the things that you say and the ideas that you put together.

Your new favorite thing is flips, and you are not such a fan of sitting still. When you DO sit, it usually involves an activity such as coloring or building.  Constructing Legos or Duplo with your dad is one of the activities that you love the most. You really like your “guys” (stuffed animals) and you are very into Paw Patrol right now. You LOVE superheroes and had a hero-themed party with Super Olivia (separate blog on that to come soon). You are also very interested in sports and you can name more football players that I can, which makes your daddy very proud.

Here is a little (long) video we made a little video on your last day as a two-year-old:

This last year has brought a great deal of changes for you, some easier than others.  No more paci, the toddler bed transition, new classrooms, new house! You have been a trooper through it all and never cease to amaze me with your sweet little demeanor.

Every night before bed, I tell you that being your mommy is my favorite thing.  I sure do mean it, and I sure do love you!

Christmas Throwback

What better day to blog about Christmas, than Saint Patrick’s Day, right?

It feels a bit ridiculous to reminisce about the winter holidays when it is a sunny 80 degrees outside, but since this was the best Christmas of my life, I feel compelled to do a quick blog post. I’m incredibly tardy, but I work hard at my job and play hard with my kiddo, and nap hard when he naps. That doesn’t leave much time for this—but I do want to hang on to the memories if I can! So here goes…

If you’ve never had the luxury of spending Christmastime with a toddler, I highly recommend that you try it one day.  While this was not Doster’s first Christmas, it is certainly the first one that he could engage in the fun on a high-awareness level and it was so joyful experiencing everything through his eyes!

Skipping ahead to the good stuff – I’m happy to present a few videos of Christmas Morning.

Doster was very consistent that he wanted a bike, maracas and a helmet for Christmas. As you can see, he was very confused when he didn’t see them.

Here are just a few stream of stream of conscious things that I want to remember.

·       Obsession with Christmas lights

• Sheer joy when opening his avengers action figures at Dawkins Family Christmas
• Past-bedtime-ness at full capacity on every night
• Zoo lights
• Cookie decorating
• Very chill with Santa (no meltdowns – just stuck to the typical “bike, helmet, maracas)
• Love of Rudolph (the song, not the clay-mation class, maybe next year?)
• I had to travel a lot for work the weeks before the holidays, it was tough on both of us!
• Adoration of the neighbor’s yard with crazy decorations
• Confusion about Christmas vs Christmastime (“Is today Christmas mommy?” - everyday)
• Christmas parties
• Stocking obsession
• Discovery of Reese’s peanut butter cups 

And now for a hodge-podge of photos and videos!

Zoo Lights

Cousin Love At Dawkins Family Christmas

Awesome Christmas Party at the Hornes's

Grown Up Christmas Party

Candlewood Christmas

Pancake Christmas Eve Breakfast-- a fav tradition!

Happy Kiddo

I thought he wanted the helmet to accompany his bike, but quickly learned that this is a "football" helmet. 

Ninja Bread Cookies at Grammy's House!