Happy Birthday, Milo

My baby is three years old. This is the part where I say something about how time flies, and I can't believe he's already three, wasn't he just born yesterday? But somehow, it seems to me like he's been three for awhile now. A month back, I was reserving time for him and Olive at my gym's childcare room, and the front desk guy asked me if the kids were over two. I said that one was over two and one was under. It didn't even occur to me until hours later that in fact neither of my children were over two. Huh.

Lately Milo just seems big to me. He's tall and so thin I sometimes wonder if he's actually eating enough. He has the face and haircut of a little boy. His cheeks and hands have lost their roundness. Milo is all little boy; there's not a trace of baby left.

He is almost entirely potty trained. He has had maybe one accident in the last two or three weeks, and that was a case of not quite getting there in time. He wears underwear during the day, and only wears a diaper at night against his will. He does wake up dry most mornings, but he hasn't yet completely mastered the pants down/pants up skill, and I'm not convinced he could get up out of bed, go into the bathroom, pull his pants down, use the toilet, get his pants up, and get back in bed by himself in the middle of the night. And so while we work on those things, he wears a diaper at night. I can't say for sure, but I bet he might be ready to wear underwear overnight around the time the pack of diapers we bought runs out. Just saying.

Milo is so funny, so sweet, so tenderhearted, and so stubborn. He can make me absolutely want to throw him across the room one minute, then make my  heart burst with love for him the next minute. He's up, he's down, he's hot, he's cold. I guess all kids his age are like that.

He has a funny little saying when he falls or bonks into something. He says, "That didn't hurt. It just tickled me." Sometimes followed up with more detail: "The table just tickled me, Mommy. It didn't hurt, it just tickled me." (He's also very into repetition of his sentences. I'm guessing he isn't feeling heard or acknowledged until we essentially repeat what he said. So sometimes he repeats things many, many times.)

He's such a boy. One of his favorite phrases is, "I tooted!"

He also spreads the news of things he sees. Example: In the car (with all of us present), I point out the window and say, "Look, Milo, a digger!" And he says, "I see it! A digger! Daddy, Mommy and I just saw a digger!" And Andrew has to then say something like, "Yeah, buddy, a digger, so cool!" or Milo continues to repeat the part about seeing a digger. And by then, the digger is long gone. His pure excitement about these things is contagious, and Andrew and I often exchange smiling glances when we hear Milo lose his shit over a construction site or a trash truck or OMG a TRAAAAAIN!!

Milo continues to learn new things all the time. He can pretty much brush his own teeth, by which I mean I've seen him get some good brushing in. He mostly doesn't want to do any real brushing after he has eaten all the toothpaste off the brush, so of course we always brush his teeth too. He is starting to learn to spit out the toothpaste instead of swallow it. He can blow his nose, put on his own shoes, put on his own hat, drink from a cup without a lid, put on his own pajamas, use scissors, say the whole alphabet, count up to 20 (though kind of inconsistently), help in the kitchen (he washes dishes with Andrew and can start the dishwasher entirely on his own), spoon-feed Olive, and memorize books like a maniac.

Seriously, the kid must know at least 10 books in their entirety completely by memory. He can finish a line if I start it, he randomly quotes books, and he reads them to Olive. Milo loves reading and loves story time. He is just as happy to sit down with a book as he is to play with his trains. It all depends on his mood. He also has gotten into listening to audio books in the car. ("No, Mommy, the vaaaannnnn," Milo would be quick to point out.) It's pretty awesome; he is distracted by the audio books, and Daddy and I can occasionally carry on a conversation.

Milo is a wonderful big brother. He likes to play with Olive and he likes holding her hand, giving her kisses, or hugging her. He also gets extremely frustrated with her, and lately those two can't spend three minutes together before I hear Milo's sad whine: "Olive took my car. Olive won't let me have the book.Olive says she won't share with me." Milo is always putting words in Olive's mouth, which can be hilarious. "Olive says I don't have to take a bath right now." Oh really? Olive said that? Well, okay then, no bath tonight! Right. Good try, Milo.

Speaking of whining, Milo is very good at that, too. When he is mad about something, he grunts. "Please eat your carrots, Milo." "Uhhnn." "What Milo? I can't understand you when you grunt." "Uhn! BuhIdonwahneeemycarrottttsssss." Many conversations go something like that.

Milo demands things a lot or makes declarative statements. We are working with him on asking for things instead. So we have had literally hundreds of conversations exactly like this:
Milo: I want some more [blank].
Andrew or Megan: Is that how we ask for things?
Milo: Please!
Andrew or Megan: Please what?
Milo: Please may I have some more [blank]?
Andrew or Megan: Oh, sure, I will get you some more [blank].

He also loves to call things silly. He can't really tell a joke yet, but he tries (Knock, knock boo hoo! ha ha ha etc.). Watch what you say, because he will take the tiniest phrase and repeat it. He adores anything silly. I tuck him in most nights, and I have taken to saying, "Sleep tight, Milo, hope you're snug as a bug in a rug," (which is something my dad said to me) and Milo loves it. Thinks it is the silliest.

Milo has dark blond hair, getting darker all the time, and gorgeous blue eyes. Sometimes I think he looks a bit like my nephew, Austin. Usually the Austin resemblance comes out when he's being playful and silly, like throwing a toy up in the air. It's a certain facial expression more than anything, sort of a clenched-teeth grin. In Milo's case, he accompanies the grin with "Eee-eee-eeee" in a sing-songy way.

He's not so big on eating dinner. Sometimes he doesn't take a single bite. We do request/require that he sit with us at the table until we're all finished, which often doesn't go over well. But come on, kid, quit wasting food. I worked hard to find a meal that I thought you would like. Sigh.

I am so stinking proud of this kid. He is so smart and kind and so thoroughly excited by the world. He gives me amazing hugs and sometimes even kisses. He says, "I love you, too." Sometimes he even says it first. There is nothing better than hearing your little man tell you that he loves you, and when he follows it up with a kiss? Well, you can just get a mop because you will have melted all over the floor.

In short, I love this kid with my whole entire heart. Happy 3rd Birthday, Milo.