Theo is 3!

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My little Theodore turned 3 on January 22nd.  I wasn’t upset on his 1st or 2nd birthdays in that ‘oh my gosh, my baby is growing up!’ sort of way.  But when he turned 3?  Lord have mercy, you’d think he was packing his bags for college!  His 3rd birthday tugged and pulled on my heartstrings because I can really see the baby and toddler in him fading away.  He’s turning into such a little boy, and while watching him learn and grow is exciting beyond words, I miss him being a baby.

We had a birthday party for him at the local fire station.  I wanted something low-key and fun, but I didn’t want to have to clean my house or spend a million dollars for a venue.  The local fire stations do birthday parties for free! They do tours of the fire trucks which Theo had a blast exploring.

Here are a few pictures from his party.

I’ve never been the kind of mom that is good at making scrapbooks or photo albums.  One of the things that excited me most about starting a blog is that I can have all of these memories here in one place!  So I’ve decided that each year on my children’s birthdays, I am going to write them a letter.  I will include everything I want to remember about Theo in this letter!  So grab your tissues and a cup of coffee, and come along as I pour my heart out to my sensitive and silly 3-year old.

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A letter to my darling Theodore on your 3rd Birthday!

Theo! It’s been quite the year for you.  When I found out we were expecting twins, I was nervous about the health complications a twin pregnancy can entail.  My biggest fear was that I would end up on hospitalized bedrest. When my water broke just under 30 weeks (a week after your 2nd birthday) I was informed that I would be on bedrest for up to four weeks and was devastated.  Who would take care of you? Who would sing to you? Who would play with you?  But you handled it so well!  You came to visit me every day.  I think you remember, which is amazing because it was almost a year ago.  A few weeks ago I asked you who took care of you while mommy was in the hospital, and you responded with “Nana and daddy.  And we visited mommy in the hospital, and I ate applesauce! But I was sad because I wanted mommy to come home.”

I only ended up being in the hospital for two weeks before I had your sisters.  It was a bittersweet feeling to leave your sisters at the hospital but to be able to come home to you.  When we brought your sisters home, I was worried that you would act out.  You were used to having mommy and daddy all to yourself, and all of a sudden you were going to have two needy babies to share us with.  That is a lot on a child of any age.  You seemed really apprehensive of the babies at first.  We would ask if you wanted to hold them and you would very firmly tell us no.  Premature babies sleep a lot, in the beginning, so you were able to adjust slowly to them being a part of our lives.

You love your sisters

You and your sisters absolutely adore each other, and you are so sweet to them.  Sure, you occasionally will take toys from them, or sneak some puffs from their high chair trays- but you show them you love them in so many ways.  If they are crying, you run over and cuddle with them or bring them a toy.  My favorite thing to watch you do is to give each of them one of your most precious stuffed animals – Carlos and Lambie.  You do it with such pride on your face, because you know you are doing something kind.  When you get up in the morning, you can’t wait to run downstairs and see your ‘gee-gees.’  Sometimes you will just lie on the ground and cover them with hugs and kisses and cuddles.

You are smart

You are such a smart boy, and you love to learn.  It doesn’t matter to me how smart you are, but it sure is fun to watch you discover new things.  You can count to 39, you can identify both your upper and lower case letters, and you can complete a 60 piece puzzle! 60 pieces!  You command us to stop, go, or slow down with the traffic lights.  If I coast through a yellow light you will yell from the backseat “Mommy! You were supposed to slow down!”  You love to ‘read’ and will recite entire books from memory.  While you don’t have any interest in writing or drawing, you can verbally spell your name (Theo, we haven’t quite mastered Theodore yet.)

You are (mostly) polite

We have been working hard on our manners, and you remember to say please and thank you almost all of the time.  Your tiny voice saying “yes please, mommy” just melts my heart.  Sometimes it backfires on me because I will ask you to do something and you’ll say “No thank you mommy!” and scamper off.

You are playful

Your preschool teachers biggest observation was how great your play skills are.  You love to use your imagination and play silly games.  Your favorite things to play with right now are puzzles, your Thomas train table, any type of vehicle, and you most recently started enjoying board games.

Theo, you bring us so much happiness.  Mommy and daddy love you so much!

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I’ll end with a few of my favorite pictures of him over the past year.