Happy 3rd Birthday Colton!

Hey sweet boy!  I can't believe that you are three years old today!  Wow, my baby (literally) is three...what on earth am I going to do not having any actual babies anymore?  You turning three is definitely hitting me a lot harder than the other kids...and I know it's because you're my last baby :(

You are a spitfire of a child, that's for sure!  You are strong-willed to say the very least!  I have never been a fan of James Dobson, but having you made me actually purchase The Strong Willed Child book he wrote...and it fit you to a T!  But as much as you have gumption and fight and will, you have the same amount in love and adorableness and humor.  You have such a personality!  You make me laugh as much as you make me want to pull my hair out :)

You are obsessed with technology.  You have been able to get on my iPad and phone, through the password and to your games for at least the last six months, if not longer.  You come in my room every morning and run right up to me and say "can I play your phone?" as you are unplugging it from the charger.  Your favorite games right now are Temple Run, Subway Surfer and Sonic.  You also LOVE to watch videos on YouTube.  

You make me laugh with the phrases that you are copying from your brothers and sister.  Some of my favorites are: "holy macaroly," "you be kidding me," "how's your deal?" and just tonight while opening your present from Grandma and Pappaw you said "oh I love this, it's what I always wanted, thank you Santa."  We like to tell each other secrets which usually involve a dialog containing the following secrets:  "I love you the mostest," "nugget biscuit nugget in a biscuit," "put the gravy on it now."

You know your numbers and know some of your letters - you have always amazed us at how smart you seem to be.  With Ryan in Kindergarten two or three days a week, there are lots of "mommy/Colton" days.  We love to play together and run errands...one of your favorites is to go to Yutzy's and play on the playground...but only if you're good in the store and ride in the cart!

You potty-trained so easily and night-trained yourself!  We had your paci taken away, but made the mistake of trying to do that, potty train you and move you to a big bed all at once and for a week straight Daddy and I got no sleep and you kept everyone in the house up with your screaming.  Each day you were so hoarse from all you screaming and crying in the night.  So we gave you paci back and we are all sleeping again.  You associate sleep with that thing and have gone back to all your self-soothing techniques that you had taught yourself as a baby.

You are our tallest kid by far!  I can't wait to see how big you get!  So many people couldn't believe that you were only two because of how big you were.  You still have pretty blonde hair and gorgeous big brown eyes.  You are starting to watch tv shows now (your favorites are Team Umizoomi, bubble Guppies, Paw Patrol and Doc McStuffins) and after a disastrous attempt at your first movie in a theater (we went to see Planes in August and you just played with the reclining seats the whole time), we went to see Frozen the other day and you sat and watched the whole movie!

You love to go over to Pappaws and you love helping him in the garden when it's warm outside.  You also love to do anything that the big kids are doing, but you still are good at playing by yourself (which involves playing cars or trains about 98% of the time).  You are also obsessed with bands and love walking around the house playing drums or the cymbals or your trumpet.

Oh my sweet little boy...I love you so very much (actually, I love you the mostest!).  I can't imagine my life without you...you keep me on my toes at all times and I can't wait to see where your strong will takes you in life.  Thank you for being my special little boy!

Love,
Mommy