From 2 to 3

2-20-09 to 2-20-10

Feb 25, 2010

My Sweet Wilson, 
From 2 to 3 you have grown more than I imagined. You have developed into a little boy full of compassion, humor, imagination, determination, curiosity, love, and music. You began this year as our “only” and now you are our “oldest”.

You love your sister so very much. Daily you give her kisses and talk to her. You try to teach her how to dance and have developed an art to teaching vowel sounds. When she is crying you respond with kindness and patience.  I am so proud of the big brother you have become. I know that there will be times when your sister is not your friend and when you will fight over just about everything, but I hope you continue to develop a relationship that’s love for one another is unconditional and immeasurable.

There are times when your response to your sister helps me to be a better mother. Like the other day, when Nora was inconsolable in the car (crying for almost 20 minutes of our drive) and you tried your best to comfort her with your kind words, "It's alright baby Nora. Momma will nurse you when we get home… Don't cry." When your words didn’t work you didn’t scream. You didn’t cry. You simply asked me to turn up the radio so you could dance. When I looked back in the mirror you were happy as can be; bopping to the tunes with your ears covered to muffle the screams.

You know how much you are loved and tell me almost daily: “Mommy and Daddy love me more!” (“love me more” comes from your daddy. The two of you play the “I love you more” game often.) “Papaw, Gramma, Babe and Pops, CiCi, Uncle Rob and Eric, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kelli, Alana and Adam love me.” Sometimes you tell me you that you don’t love me and ask me if I don’t love you, but when I respond with “I will always love you. I may not like what you do but I will ALWAYS love you” you smile and say, “I am teasing momma. I love you, too!

You love your dogs.  You have recently begun to ask for Buckeye to be with you everywhere. From the garage when you are riding your bike to the bedroom when you sleep.  I think that your night time request might go unfulfilled as Jake has always been your sleeping companion and I don’t see him giving up his spot any time soon.

You are such a little rocker! Almost every morning you wake me up to the sounds of your CD player blaring.  You like a variety of music: Paolo Nutini (New Shoes), Kenny Chesney, Santana, Nickelback, Josh Turner, Fiest (“the girl in the blue dress”), Gnarls Barkley (Crazy), India Arie (she sings ABCs on a sesame street episode) and Rascal Flatts.  You especially like to jam to your Cars soundtrack and the Sheryl Crow song “Real Gone”. Your air guitar is fantastic and your favorite place to “rip it” is on your bed with “one leg forward- like this”.

Dinosaurs bring you much joy, especially the T-REX and his “short arms”. You like to tell strangers that you are a “meat eating dinosaur” and close your conversation with a gigantic roar.

You still think that construction equipment is “cool” and love talking with your daddy about cranes.

You’re a great eater and can put away more than me at some meals. Your favorite dishes haven’t changed much: cheese burgers, spaghetti, turkey sandwiches, fruit (any and all), carrots, yogurt (you are particularly fond of the “vanilla vean” flavor right now) and I can’t forget COOKIES.

You have mastered your three wheel bike and now prefer riding your “big green bike that daddy got me from the bike store” (your two wheeler with training wheels).

At night you like to sleep with trucks, Legos, cars and your “Moving Bear”. Moving Bear is your favorite stuffed animal and has earned his name because you’ve loved him so much that his head moves. 

Each night when you are tucked into bed you say, with a sweet smile, “first kiss, then hug”. Then you take your arm and wipe your mouth so your kiss isn’t slobbery.

You’re a lefty. You love to paint and have recently started drawing things that actually look like what you say they are (e.g., fish, lines for parking lots, circles and faces).

You began the year loving trains and asking for help building your track and although your interest in them has decreased some you can now put together a track by yourself.

Daily your enthusiasm and curiosity of airplanes and spaceships increases as you build airports, planes, launch pads, and runways.

You enjoy watching sports (and cheering) on TV. I think that you actually understand it when they make a touchdown or basket. Every team with red is almost always “the Buckeyes”.


Your favorite movie is, without a doubt, Cars. 

You can navigate my iPhone (the coolest and most amazing phone on the market in 2010) better than some adults I know. In fact you are so good at using the phone that I have created a page with kid friendly apps that you go to independently.

You are mostly potty trained; only wearing pull ups at night. As a matter of fact, you’ve gone on two really long road trips recently and had no accidents at all! You don’t like being told to potty when we are out and about, but when asked to sit and count to five will usually do so with no complaints. At home you use the restroom with out prompting and are very proud of yourself when you go; announcing to everyone "I went poop and pee!". 

Your memory is remarkable and often frightening. You recall things from 5-6 months ago (sometimes longer) and it absolutely astounds me.

You are quick to tell your daddy and I that “we are not being nice” to each other when we have discussions. This has taught us more about ourselves and our body language than we ever knew and for that we are grateful.

You tell me you love me at least 15 times a day. Thank you.

When you are scared you cry.

You are still a fast learner and are beginning to express an interest in learning letters and words. I have not pushed this skill much. Instead I have encouraged your development in other areas, but now that you are ready we are beginning to work on them.  We are using a program that I have used with work (handwriting without tears) and you really like reading the books and manipulating the wooden lines and curves to form shapes and letters.

You love to know more than the surface of things, to understand the why and how. The best way I can explain this is to give you an example. Yesterday, at your Three Year Well Visit you wanted to know what everything was and were especially interested in the otoscope. I told you that the doctor uses it to look at your ears. That explanation didn’t seem to satisfy your curiosity. So I showed you a picture of the inner ear and told you the names of some of the anatomy. You seemed to learn the terms quickly and pointed to the bones in the ear and to the healthy ear drum.  When the doctor came in and looked at your ears you knew exactly what she was doing and asked if she saw the light (e.g. the cone of light we see in a healthy ear drum). 

With all of the wonderful things you do I feel that it is important for me to be honest and let you know that not every day is easy. You are stubborn and always speak your mind (okay, you can be pretty mouthy). There are days when your behavior is difficult. (Mostly these times come when you, or I, are over tired.) You are not perfect, nor am I.  

I am doing my best to raise a man that is happy, compassionate, intelligent, independent, confident, determined, thoughtful and loving.

You, my sweet Wilson, are an amazing child and will grow to do great things for this world. My love for you is immeasurable and unconditional. And I promise it always will be.

Your Momma, forever.