3.5

This week our Mr. Lo turned three and a half years old. I have not been very consistent doing age reports for awhile but figured I might as well give him a little spotlight. He seems like such a grown up kid most of the time, but then has moments when I remember he has only been on this earth a short little while. Things he does: Shares (willingly and happily much of the time but sometimes needs reminding to wait until other kids are done before he tries to take a turn); Bikes (he got a balance bike last summer and rides it almost every day. Our longest route is 4 miles round trip and he gets tired but is a trooper!); Sings (his favorite part of church is singing time in Primary and I hear his sweet melodies around the house as he rehearses either songs he has just learned in school/church or songs he makes up on the spot); Potties (deserves a post of its own, but the short story is that he insisted on potty training himself last year right after we moved back from Texas--ditched diapers cold-turkey daytime/nighttime included and it went pretty well overall); Pretends (he makes up stories, likes to role play, hide and jump out at me as if he is a monster, etc.; Eats (only consumes about one good meal every 2-3 days but isn't picky overall) Still nurses each evening as part of his bedtime routine; Sleeps -for about a year now has slept in his own room all night long, even getting up to potty at night without needing help most of the time.  He goes to bed between 7-7:30 and wakes around 6:30-7am.  About a month ago, I weaned him off of napping entirely because he was only napping a few days per week anyway and it bothered me to have inconsistency.  And it messed with his bedtime when he sometimes napped/sometimes didn't.  So anyway, I'm relieved he's done napping.  It makes scheduling our days simpler.   "Reads;" okay, not really, but he does the pre-reading pretending sort of reading, like telling me, "I'll read it," and turns the pages, telling the story as he has memorized it or making it up based on the illustrations, etc. He also LOVES to be read to still and will sit still for whole stacks of books. He seems to like any genre and a whole host of subjects. One of his recent favorite topics to read about is bats. He often says, "I can read this book because it is a Chinese book, but you can't read it Mommy because you aren't Chinese." And then he'll pretend to read to me in Chinese. I love it. Helps (he enjoys mopping up his own spills, like when he overflows/floods the bathroom every night during his bath or pours his own milk from the jug. He also enjoys entertaining his younger sister and frequently requests, "Mom please can I hold my sister?" Cooks/Bakes (with a lot of assistance of course he commonly makes pancakes, play dough, pizza, cookies, bread, and without assistance is able to get himself simple snacks). Usually I ask him, "What should we have for dinner?" and he gives me great ideas. He likes measuring and stirring dry ingredients most and sometimes protests when I say it is time to add the wet ingredients. He doesn't like getting messing. I need to rearrange the kitchen to put more items within his reach but then am not sure how to simultaneously baby-proof it soon for Baby Ro). I wish I had time to write more about him because he is such a complex, amazingly developed little person and I am sure I've missed important categories. But I'm running out of time and need to get to bed so that's it for now...