We hit 3 today. A couple of days celebrating with friends and family...
Yesterday we hit the Steinbach Pool. He unfortunately suffered some motion sickness from the car, the pool slide, and the whirlpool so the shine was rubbed off his usual favourite place in the world. But he bounced right back with a McD's lunch and romp in their indoor playground.
Today we discovered his new favourite place in the world... Kid City. A ginormous indoor playground complete with cars, couches and zillions of other kids. We were there before the doors opened and his face lit up the the second we crossed the thresh hold. A full two hours later and we finally called it.
Then of course, we wrapped up the day with our traditional pasta parmasan chicken as his dinner request, followed with a chocolate Mickey Mouse cake and some presents. We were delighted that he seemed to love our choices... another wooden train for his track set, a huge bin of gloriously coloured building blocks of numerous shapes and sizes, and the ever-popular hockey stick and ball. I had my reservations about this toy when I found it in the store - I do NOT want to be a hockey mom, but my gut was right. His joy at the gift blew any other thought from my mind and I even helped him get the hang of it, the adorable little turd.
Not a great photo of the Man, and of course I forgot my camera for the playground. He placed the candles himself... poor Mickey ended up rather anatomically correct... eek. His favourite joke. Boyz.
As this year dawns, we are almost overwhelmed with how much joy Kaleb brings us, daily. His self-expression is constantly entertaining us; "My boots is grumpy" (socks or pants bunched when he puts them on), "What's going on in here?!" "A little help here, please..?". He's still as sweet and loving as ever. Loves to sing his ABCs, almost completely correct. Knows half his letters by sight and can count to 12. He likes to select his own clothing and is learning not to give up easily when tasks are tricky, to keep looking for another solution. He brushes his own teeth, wipes his own -er... nevermind. TMI. Puts his own dishes and garbage away, likes to put things in their place when it's time to clean up. We're still working on sharing when it comes to something high-value, but he's generally very social with everyone he meets.
We're quite happy with his manners and behaviour most of the time. It seems that being firm with our expections from early-on and giving him as many tasks as he can do to build his confidence and sense of self-responsibility is all really paying off. He's still a 3 year old boy, but I'm amazed all the time by how high we can set that bar. He will proudly try his heart out every time and if he can't quite do it we know we've asked too much and reframe our approach so that he can find success. It's heartbreaking when he thinks he can't do something. I never imagined working with a like-minded teammate to shape and form a wonderful, productive little personality was even part of the journey, nevermind how truly awe-inspiring it could be. I feel good things for this amazing little person, blooming right in front of us.
He still smells more delicious than anything else I've discovered on this planet.
