3 1/2 Years

{August 19th}

Everett is 3 1/2 years old and is our little firecracker.

I wanted to write down things about him at this age because they change soo fast.

Not going to lie, this last year with him has been rough.

Major terrible 3's.

He is ornery and stubborn and cannot be bribed.

When he is good... there is not a cuter kid.

But when he is naughty, it is rough.  And we have had A LOT of tantrums the last year or so.

The kid cannot be bribed.

If he's in a good mood- he is excited and on board with whatever fun times or treat we have planned.

If he's throwing a fit, or has made up his mind, he cannot be bribed out of it.

Not with candy, donuts, chick-fil-a, Disneyland, movies, toys... nothing.

He has become super opinionated about what he wears.

He has soo many cute clothes that I've bought and he will only wear a handful of old tshirts.

He's just starting to outgrow this, but over the last 6 months to a year, he's had a limited wardrobe.

It's pretty much 50/50 whether he'll wake up in the morning or from a nap grumpy or happy.

He was never like this as a baby... he woke up happy every single day and never fussed or cried once.  But something switched and now you better watch out if he wakes up grumpy.

He likes to sit and snuggle and watch a show for a good 20-30 minutes when he wakes up in the morning, so if we stick to our routine, that helps.

If he wants to eat, he's probably our least picky eater.

He will eat any and all types of veggies and fruits and anything else I make.

If he doesn't feel like eating it, he won't touch it no matter what it is.

There have been several days when he has only had chips for dinner or granola bars all day long.

He loves all of Brian's tools and gadgets and when he finds one he wants, he'll carry it around for a good few days.

He also loves to help with anything we are doing!

Yard work, building things, cleaning things, cooking/baking- he loves to help.

He loves arts and crafts and is the first to ask if he can paint or color or do some kind of art project.

He's also really good at coloring in the lines and drawing shapes.

Disciplining him has been so challenging.

We weren't the best about enforcing time out when he was around 2 (because he was such a good baby and toddler!) and its probably come to bite us.

He refuses to stay in time out so if he gets sent there, we have to physically hold him in the corner the entire time while he tries to push out.  Most of the time he'll try to hit or scratch or bite so then we have to hold his arms or sit on him the whole time as well.

Spanking didn't seem to have any effect on him as well so now we've resorted to putting him in his room and holding the door closed if he's in big trouble.

It's never just one time... he is so stubborn and defiant that its usually 3-4 times in a row before he's ready to make peace.

We've also learned (through lots and lots of experience) that its best to just let him throw his fit and ignore him until he wants to calm down and make up.

It takes him a while to warm up to people if he's not around them much.

I would say overall he's still a mama's boy (especially after being home with me all last year) but it seems like he picks his favorite each morning and if you're chosen... its all you that day, ha!

He's been really bad when drop him off at sunday school, asanas, and now preschool.

We really talk it up and talk through where he's going and how we always come back to get him, but almost every single time we have to peel him off of us and leave him crying.

I'm really hoping we can break it this year in preschool.

He's starting to get so creative and say the cutest/funniest things.

Its taken him awhile to get in his own groove since he has always just played what Braxton is playing but he's starting to love playing pretend.

He loves to play kitchen.

He also loves to dress up and play super heroes.

He sported an old dragon halloween costume for several days in a row this summer and a full police outfit for another week or so.

He loves Braxton and playing with him every single day.

But has also learned how to push Braxton's buttons and drive him crazy on purpose.

He has warmed up to Grayson a lot over the last year but still isn't crazy about him.

He is not affectionate and doesn't like Grayson to touch him or drool on him at all.

He also loves to ride scooters outside and is our daredevil!

We had to really enforce the rule that he can't ride without tennis shoes or his helmet after a few little incidents.

He goes to the top of our street and cruises down at full speed until he crashes in our grass. 

He gets going so dang fast on that thing, it freaks Brian and I out every time and I know a big crash is coming one day soon.

He also likes to do the Strider bike sometimes but we really need to get him a regular bike to start practicing on.

He is by far our most affectionate child and loves to snuggle and gives hugs and kisses.

When he finally calms down out of a fit, he has to have love and affection.

He also has to have his blankie.

He loves to swim but was hit and miss in swimming lessons this summer.

If he was in a good mood, he did great and loved it.

If he was not feeling it... he refused to go in.

So we donated a few lessons to Dolphins Swim School this summer.

He has gotten so much more independent and good in the shallow baby pools but is no where close to swimming in the big pool and has to have his floaty on.

We'll put him in lessons again over the winter.

Everett was by far our easiest baby and we always joke that we are paying for it in the toddler years!

He is our most difficult child right now but is also so cute and funny and witty and we sure love this stage he is in!