3 Year Checkup

Jake had his 3-year checkup on January 26. (Yes a month after his actual birthday. That's what happens when your birthday falls on a holiday!). He weighs 44 pounds & is 41-42" (he wouldn't stand still) inches tall.  They checked his eye sight & he got a clean bill of health. They tried checking his hearing, but he refused to cooperate with the earphones on his head, so we can only assume his hearing is fine. We went through his list of milestones with his new pediatrician and everything is right on track.  Except.... when they asked me how much milk he was drinking a day. It is funny, before Jake was born & almost every day up until his 2nd birthday, I checked with my doctor, baby books & BabyCenter.com making sure everything I gave Jake was exact. I guess after 2, he stopped needing so many "special" requests. Early on, his doctor agreed that low fat milk was fine for Jake, so we've been giving him that. Jake LOVES milk. It never accrued to me to check to see how much milk to give him.. He loves it & it is low fat, so we just went with it. So when his pediatrician asked me how much milk did we give him a day. Strike 1- I didn't even know. I quickly added up in my head that it was probably at least 4 sippy cups a day. Then the doctor asked me how large were those sippy cups. Strike 2- I have no idea how many onces are in his sippy cup. I just had to give her a measurement with my hands. She said that was probably too much milk to be giving Jake. Anything over 16 onces is just extra calories (no extra nutrition), so we had to cut Jake back to only 2 sippy cups of milk a day. I can't believe my child is a milkaholic. Other than that, we had a clean bill of health! 

Things I want to remember about this time in his life...

• The way he talks. I love the way he pronounces things. Like calling a razor a "lazor". I love when he tells me about his day. He likes to tell me about his teacher Mrs. Michelle, his friend Carson & playing on the playground. I love having conversions with him. I love how he repeats things we say to him. I was painting some wood & he saw me. He said "You are painting mommy! Good job. I'm so proud of you!" Sometimes he will tell us to "calm down!" and ask us "do you understand?".
• Whenever you do something that makes him happy he will say "Best day ever!!". At least once a day it is the best day ever. It is usually followed up with tears though just as soon as he doesn't get something he wants.
• How much closer he is becoming to Robbie. He gets so excited when Robbie gets home from work. It is now a toss up 50/50 on if he chooses mommy or daddy. It used to always be mommy. I love the way that they bond over sports. Jake actually likes watching it with Robbie & loves playing any kind of ball with him. Jake is becoming less of "mommy's boy" & more of "daddy's pal".
• But his heart still belongs to mommy. He'll curl up in my lap & tell me "I love you so much". It completely melts my heart.
• He is starting to say his own prayers. For the longest time, we would just pray them for him. The other night, I asked him if he wanted to say the pray before bed. This was his prayer "God, [mumbling of some things I couldn't understand] mommy, daddy, race cars, Amen".
• His interest in God. He loves to talk about God. Especially God & Jonah (thanks Veggie Tales!). He will tell us that Jesus loves children and how nice God is. He was staying with my parents one night & early in the morning before everyone got up, my mom was in the den reading her Bible. Jake walked in & asked her what she was doing. Mom said reading the Bible. Jake said "oh, you're learning about God".
• He loves to sing. I could listen to him sing all day. Even when it is past his bedtime. That sweet little voice.

I've got to start writing this stuff down as I think of it. He will do it & I will think to myself 'I need to jot that down'. Of course I forget, and then I sit down to write on the blog (my unofficial babybook) & I can't remember anything. I sound like such a broken record, but I do feel like it just keeps getting better. We definitely have our challenges each day in which I wonder how much I could get for him off eBay (just kidding). But the good times far outweigh the tough times. I love this precious time in his life and daily thank God that his plan was so much better than mine.