3 Yr/1 Mo Stats

NEW TRICKS:

• Consistently tells us when he needs to pee/poop. Only needs help getting on and off the potty for #2 (stands for #1) and with wiping. However, he gets frustrated when his undies get bunched up when he's trying to pull them up!
• Can climb up and down the rope thing at the park all by himself. Can also get up the rock wall with very little help.
  

FAVORITE FOODS:
STILL eats oatmeal every morning for breakfast, asks for cheese all the time, and loves turkey roll ups. Has enjoyed summer peaches so much! Still won't eat peanut butter, bananas, or sweet potatoes.

FAVORITE BOOKS:
I recently checked out a bunch of Caldecott Award winning books from the library for a change of pace (and in the hopes of exposing him to literature that may be a little more enlightening than Thomas the Train or Disney Cars). I really enjoyed "A Child's Calendar" by John Updike, but Brax keeps asking for "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" which I think is quite possibly one of the dumbest books EVER!

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES:
I've started doing something called "Tot Trays" (go HERE to check it out). It's a Montessori-inspired way of playing and learning at the same time. Some of the activities he is into now are from our Tot Trays I set up each week.

• Rolling and un-rolling blankets, calling them "pipes."
• Pouring water into small glass bottles using a funnel and little pitchers, then cleaning up spills with a sponge (a Montessori favorite!)
• Cutting patterns with his new scissors that are spring-loaded and they open back up after each cut.
• Lacing cards
• Also loves watching "Battle of the Supercars" with Daddy!

• Looking at the numbers and letters on license plates when we go for walks.
• Gathering "treasures" on our walks-sticks, rocks, acorns, pinecones...
• Riding the scooter our neighbors let him borrow.
  

DAILY ROUTINE:
Up at 7:30, school Mon-Thurs 8:30-11:30, lunch at 12, nap from 1-3ish, bath/books/bed starting at 7:30, usually asleep by 8:45.
As of Aug. 18, Brax started a new school (after taking off two weeks since we stopped going to his other one at the end of July.) I really liked the Montessori school he was going to, but he got accepted to be a peer model in our school district's preschool program. I thought it would be a great opportunity for him both socially and academically (not to mention, it saves us ALOT of money each month). There are 11 children in his class (a few with mild special needs, the others acting as peer models) with 3 teachers (one head teacher and 2 paras) I was turned on to this by a neighbor whose 2 kids were peer models as well as our Parents as Teachers educator, and they had nothing but great things to say about the program. So we're giving it a try!

FAVORITE SONGS:
"Going on a Bear Hunt"

DISLIKES:
Random things, depending on the day or his mood! Typical 3 year old stuff, nothing in particular!

MOMENTS I DON'T WANT TO FORGET:

• One night as I was putting him to bed, he asked so sweetly, "Mama, will you sing me a song?" (He requested the Barney song!)
• Recites John 3:16
• Our first family movie night-Friday, August 27. We had gone to the zoo that morning, and he napped from 2-6! So we knew he'd be up late. He ate dinner then took a bath, then got to stay up till 10 watching Pinocchio for the first time!
  

BRAXISMS:

• I went in to get him up one morning and he asked, "Is Miss Noelle here?" When I said no, he said, "Is it not Tuesday?" (She would come every Tues-Thurs)
• "We're doing a fight sword!" (a sword fight)
• "I gotta grab of this." (ahold)
• "My face is flushed!" (After having a fit)
• Mike had put little pink stakes in the yard to mark vole holes for the exterminator. Brax was outside playing, and while we weren't paying attention, he rapidly collected each and every one of them, threw them down the window well, and then announced, "We don't need those! The yard was a MESS!" Hilarious.
• Calls his butt crack (a phrase DADDY taught him) a "butt clap."
• Pointing to the wrinkles in my forehead-"I don't have those lines."
• We walked outside and he says, "I hear a train in the distance!" He did!
• "Harper looks trashy." ?????????? Not sure where he got that!
  
• "What will Harper do when she's big? What voice will she have?"
• We had built a fort (blankets over the kitchen chairs) and I was going to disassemble it. He said fiercely, "I'm gonna put a lock on it Mommy so you can't take it down!" Then he thought about it and said, "Momma, can you get me a lock?"
• After a big meal-"My tummy is tooting stronger!"
• "Holy Smokes! That car was driving FAST!"
• "Dadgummit!" (Maybe not an age-appropriate word to express aggravation, but better than the alternatives he could have picked up from his father!)
• "That's INCREDIBLE!" Referring to his stomp-rocket he launched onto the house.
• "Those were DISGUSTING." Referring to the peanut butter crackers he was served at school.
• Calls license plates "slicense plates." (We always analyze each and every plate we pass when we go on walks to identify the numbers and letters. He gets a kick out of this!)

Sidenote-Brax has his first random "asthma attack" this month. He had been running around outside one evening and he started wheezing and coughing-enough for him to ask to come inside because his cough was bothering him he said. We did a quick-acting nebulizer treatment and he was fine immediately after. In the past, the only time he's ever wheezed/retracted was when he had a viral respiratory infection. I'm hoping and praying these exercise-induced episodes don't become more frequent.