3-year well checkup

I am so proud of Henry! He was such a big boy at his doctor's appointment on Tuesday. And let me tell you, turning three means that there will be some new things on the agenda at the doctor's office. One of them being peeing into a cup. He cooperated with the nurse and stood on the scale and even willingly climbed on to the exam table to have his blood pressure taken. I brought a mini-Magna Doodle for him to play with while we waited and he was drawing pictures when the doctor finished with William's exam and called him over to the table for his. He said, "Umm, I'm concentrating right now."Just a second later though he set it down and climbed back up on to the table and cooperated with the doctor. He even had to get an unexpected finger prick/blood draw and sat on my lap unfazed for it. It was a lot to expect from him, and I'll reiterate, I'm proud of how well he did!

Henry's stats at age 3:

Height: 38 1/2 inches, 75%

Weight: 39.2 lbs, 97%

A few notes about Henry at 3:

His favorite toys are tractors and construction-type trucks. He plays more pretend with them now, rather than just driving them around the floor. He pretends to build houses, roads, and parks with his construction crew and pretends that he and Grandpa Tractor (Patrick's dad) are taking care of crops on the farm with his tractors. He usually pretends that his cousins Hannah, Isaac and Caleb are driving tractors, too.

He pretends and imitates things a lot. Last week at Holly's house I found him "painting" his toenails with some of my clear lip gloss. He was very proud of himself, and did not want me to wash them off.

He got a kids pretend shaving kit from Patrick's parents for his birthday and loves pretending to shave. His favorite part of the kit is the shaving cream. He used an entire can in one bath. I left the bathroom to grab a towel for him and came back to this scene, and a very happy Henry:

• He is a great helper and a hard worker. Anything we consider work, he loves to do. Vacuuming, sweeping, using the dustbuster, mopping, dusting, mowing the lawn with Patrick, weeding, etc. He loves to help Patrick on his projects around the house.
• He wears underwear 100% of the time! He has occasional accidents, but I think we're getting close. When he started wearing underwear, I put his diapers away and we haven't looked back. The biggest hurdle is that he doesn't tell us when he needs to go potty during the day. (He does tell us during the night and first thing in the morning) I think once he starts telling us when he needs to go, he will be officially PT. (potty trained)
• Tuesdays -Garbage Tractor Day, and Wednesdays-Garbage Day are his favorite mornings of the week. He loves to run out on the porch and watch them collect the trash.
• Veggie Tales is his favorite show to watch on TV and favorite CD to listen to in the van. He will detect any other music (even in his sleep) and request that Veggie Tales be immediately put back into the CD player.
• Mint Chip - his favorite ice cream flavor. This has become a summer treat at a nearby ice cream shop where they put little candy eyes on the kid's cones.
• He is energetic. He loves to run, climb, jump, roll, tumble, flip - anything in motion.
• He loves riding his big boy bike. He now has his sights set for being training wheel-less. He sees big kids at the park and has noticed that their bikes don't have training wheels. He has begged us to take his off.
• His favorite foods seem to be breakfast meats: sausage, bacon and pepperoni. He loves picking these toppings off pizza. His tastes are expanding though, since that won't count as a balanced diet. He loves fruit: apples, strawberries and grapes ranking highest and will try anything else on his plate. He eats the same meals we eat. He also likes water more than ever and loves getting his own out of the fridge spicket. His best meal is breakfast. He loves pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, cereal and eggs. That's always his best meal of the day.
• He's very silly and makes me laugh with his antics throughout the day. Although some of his new 3-year old antics send him to time out. He has gotten a little bit sassy since turning three and can be obstinate and stubborn. We didn't see much of the "terrible 2's", I will agree with my friends of 3-year olds - it's the "terrible 3's". Even with his defiance, I think he's starting to understand that his behavior has consequences, and he willingly walks to the time-out stair or has only a very short fit if I take something of privelege away.
• He loves reading. We read at least a dozen books a day together on most days. Some favorites are: the How Does a Dinosaur (Say Goodnight?, Go To School?, etc.) series, Henry and Mudge books, tractor/truck books, his children's Bible and I love you Stinky Face. We read books together before his nap and before bed.
• Naps. He definitely still needs his nap! He takes an afternoon nap around 1:00 and usually sleeps for 2 hours. At least once a week he sleeps for 3 hours. I never know when it will be, but those days are a treat! He goes to bed around 8:00 and usually is up without fail by 6:00 a.m. I wish it could be later, but he has such a set internal clock. In the winter we told him that he could not get up until the sunshine was out. But now, that doesn't work in our favor. Hopefully when it's winter again, he will sleep in a little bit longer.