Isaac ~ 3 Years

Isaac has grown leaps and bounds this past year.  I so enjoy the boy that he is, and I look forward to all that he will continue to learn that will shape is amazing personality.  At three, Isaac...

~ sleeps well, especially for his naps.  I have learned that I have to put him down for his naps earlier, as if I put him down later in the day, he will NOT go to bed.  I know, that's common sense, but he's so active and it's hard to put him down for a nap at 12:30.  So, some days it works out, and others not so much...on those off days, I have to expect that he will stay up later.  Or, I will just opt to not put him down for a nap at all and put him to bed super early.  Sometimes I don't mind doing that ;).

~ speaks so well...he is definitely the earliest of our kids to talk.  He enunciates so well and it's so easy to understand him.  I'm very thankful that it's so easy for us to communicate with Isaac.  He also uses words that you wouldn't think a three year old would use and it catches me off guard sometimes.  He often uses the word "actually", which is just hilarious, especially when he is correcting you about something.

~ has the best sense of humor.  Oh my, this kid knows how to make us laugh, and he's always willing to do so.  He loves to have us all happy and giggling, and will do whatever to get us to that point.  We sure do love this about him, and we especially *love* that happy giggle of his.

~ loves, loves, LOVES to read books.  This kid will sit in his room forever and look through all of his books.  He gets so engulfed in the pictures and stories, and he has most of them memorized too!  So, when I'm not able to read to him, he'll just read the story to himself as he remembers it.  His absolutely favorite book is Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, and insists on having Doug or I read it to him most nights.  He also loves The Big Red Barn and any Little Quack book, or any books with animals, for that matter.  I just love that he loves to read like Noah and Leah.

~ is very accident prone.  It makes me sad that he's this way, and it frustrates me too.  I try to be so careful with him, but he still manages to get hurt.  Over the past year, he has had stitches above his left eye, had a gash on his forehead glued shut, fell off of his bike and hit his front tooth {thank goodness he didn't break it!}, fell again off of his bike and had SEVEN stitches on his chin, and fallen and scrapped himself up more times then I can count.  I swear, I don't know what to do with the child.  He can walk, yet he trips all of the time.  I just pray that he doesn't fall and break a bone {knock on wood!!}.  His face already has too many scars for my liking, but they're all healing well.  I guess I just need to always remember to be extra careful with him.

~ absolutely loves to learn.  He knows the alphabet song and is getting really good at recognizing the letters.  He can count to 20, but he doesn't recognize any numbers, although he can distinguish a number from a letter, he just doesn't know which is which.  But he wants to!  And I love that he has a thirst for learning, so we're working on it now.  He finally figured out his colors, which was a bit hard for him to understand.  Now he loves walking around and telling me the colors of everything.  He'll tell me what color shirt or toy he wants, which is so dang cute.  He also prefers educational games on the iPad, and I'm totally fine with that ;).  It's just crazy to me how much these kids retain in such a short amount of time...absolutely amazing!

~ loves to draw and color, just like his sissy.  He enjoys coloring books, but he prefers if I draw him a picture that he wants, and then colors it.  And he takes his time too, which is so cute to watch.  He finally figured out the proper way to hold his crayons, and he's thrilled about that.  And the look on his face when he is all done coloring his little masterpiece is priceless...every time!

~ is very particular about what he wears.  Noah and Leah could care less about what they wear...I've always picked out their clothes and they never, ever, question it or tell me that they want something else.  Isaac is not like that at all!  Getting ready for the day with him is not the favorite part of my day.  He always has to pick out his clothes, and he usually only wants one of five shirts.  And there are obviously times when what he wants is dirty...and this NEVER goes over well.  He doesn't get mad, he  just gets really disappointed and it's really hard to convince him to wear something else.  I'm not kidding when I say that there is a lot of drama on certain days...all over his shirt!  Drives me batty sometimes!  Especially when the kid has SO many shirts to pick from!  I always try to keep his favorite shirts clean because I like to pick my battles, and this is definitely not one of them ;).

~ is potty trained, for the most part.  We still have some issues at night, but we're working on it.  He's completely trained during the day and for naps, thank goodness.  It's just getting through the night that's hard.  He really loves to have some milk before bed, and we've had to take it away as of late, which hasn't gone over well.  Baby steps...

~ is still not the best eater, but he's getting better.  He is pretty picky and knows what he wants, but it's usually pretty easy to convince him to try other stuff.  It takes some work, but it's usually worth it.  He's not a huge fan of meat in general, so I try to give him more beans and stuff like that.  He does love fruits and veggies though, so that's good.  He also doesn't like pasta very much, so on the nights that we do have some sort of pasta, he'll just sit in his chair and look at it.  It's kind of funny though, cause we all expect it at this point.  He's also a really lazy eater and I usually have to help him eat for most meals...yes, I totally baby him and feed my three year old!  But, like everything else, he's getting better...one day at a time.

~ is really obedient!  Definitely the most obedient of all the kids.  If I ask him to do something, he'll do it straight away without a fight.  And he's usually so happy to help me...love it!

~ is really good at playing by himself.  There are times when we all have our own things we need to get done, especially in the morning hours, and Isaac knows this.  So, when there isn't anyone to play with him, he'll happily go in his room, or downstairs, and just play by himself...and he'll be so happy too!  He'll talk to himself while he plays, or put all of his stuffed animals out and play and talk with them...it's adorable.  I'm thankful that he can do this, since Noah and Leah weren't like this at all.  Sometimes he actually prefers to play by himself, which is just fine.  He likes to play his own little games with his toys and sometimes doesn't want it to be "messed up" by an outside party {aka Noah and Leah}.

~ is such a good brother to all of his siblings.  He has a very special bond with Noah, Leah, and Kate.  He and Noah play really well together, especially when it comes to playing sports.  They are getting really good at throwing the ball around together, and playing soccer.  Noah will also be so cute and get down on his level to play trains and other games that he used to play when he was Isaac's age.  It's adorable watching them together.  He and Leah are pretty tight, and he depends on her a lot.  Leah is really so protective of him and is really good at making him happy when it comes to playing.  Sometimes she has to negotiate with Isaac, but it always works out.  And Isaac and Kate...now that's a match made in heaven!  They have pretty similar personalities, so that makes it easy for them.  I know Kate is only 15 months, but they really get each other already.  Isaac is a good big brother to her and will play whatever she wants to play.  It's very common for me to find him and Kate together in her room playing with her toys...and they're both so happy about it.  Yes, I'm so happy how close Isaac is with his siblings...he's a lucky boy to have them :).

~ has a very tight bond with me and Doug.  He's definitely both a mama's boy and daddy's boy.  Some days he'll prefer one of us over the other, and that's alright.  He always showers us with hugs and kisses and tells us he loves us all of the time.  We sure do love this kid!