Daniel: 3 years old

Somehow when I wasn't looking my little baby turned into a 3 year old.  He's a happy, energetic, thoughtful little boy who keeps us laughing.

He recently moved up to the next oldest class at preschool.  He moved over gradually, first just in the afternoon but as of a few weeks ago he's there all day.  He's adjusted well.  The new class doesn't have naptime; given that he wasn't napping anyway that suits him perfectly.  He enjoys clean-up time at school and is a good helper.

Before he moved up to the new class, he enjoyed the "celebration of life" birthday commemoration in his old class.  Ms. Becca shared stories and pictures from each year of Daniel's life and he did a circle around the candles for every year of his life and she prayed thanksgiving for the 3 years past and blessings for the year to come.

Soccer lessons are offered at school once a week and he's been taking them since January. He loves it and is excited to tell us about scoring goals.  He has also been taking swim lessons once a week since late May and is enjoying those too.  He does every lesson with enthusiasm: kicking in the water, jumping off the side, swimming, and best of all, going down the slide!  No sooner does he finish something than he's calling out "I want to do it again!"  

Here he is swimming in the neighborhood pool:

They also do yoga at school and his favorite pose is star pose, which he does by spreading his arms and legs and announcing "star pose!"

When he's not swimming and playing soccer, he's happily reading books, singing songs, and loving on his baby sister.  He's very sweet with Rebecca, for the most part.

For his birthday we did a pool party with his school friends and a few other close friends.  He had a great time playing with all his friends.

He got a lot of birthday gifts he enjoyed but so far his very favorite is the kitchen set his teacher Ms. Emily got for him.  Apparently he plays with the school one a lot so she knew he'd love to have one of his own.  The minute he opened it he insisted on "cooking" for everyone!

He also enjoys the camera Mommy and Daddy got him:

Looking forward to Aggie football and showing off his Heisman pose!

He remains, as ever, a happy healthy boy.  At his 3 year checkup though his pediatrician noted that he has very large tonsils and that they partially obstruct his airway.  She referred us to a pediatric ENT doctor who suggested removing the tonsils and adenoids to help his breathing and sleeping.  It's a big decision and one we're still researching.

This year saw a major adjustment for him from only child to big brother and he handled it wonderfully.  He also adjusted from home care to preschool and is thriving at school.  The next year shouldn't hold such dramatic adjustments for him but it'll be fun to watch him continue to bloom in his new roles as student and brother.  Our first 3 years with Daniel have been a blessing and I'm excited to see what the next year brings.