Monday, August 10, 2015

Roy Boy Turns Three!

To my dear Greyden Roy Boy,

You are now three year old, as of July 28th. For some reason, having you turn three didn’t hit me as hard as some of the other birthdays you boys have had. I’m not quite sure why. Maybe because our lives are so busy, maybe because the baby things have been disappearing from our house one by one for a while anyway. Maybe because you talk so much, so you seem older than you are. And talk you do, child. Nonstop.



You really are such a sweet, fun boy. Your mood is typically either complacent or happy. Oh, you get in your toddler funks and throw some fits, but even compared to what we went through with Krew, your tantrums have been easy to deal with. In general you have a very happy-go-lucky disposition. You don’t get sad or angry very often, unless your daddy or I tell you to give us some space (see paragraph below).


The hardest thing with you right now is how demanding and clingy you are when we’re at home. You want 100% of someone’s attention 24/7. If Daddy’s home, you choose him, and when he’s not home, you choose me. And then you follow us around, all around the house, never getting further than four feet from us, talking to us and asking us questions and requesting us to help you with this and help you with that. In your mind, we should not be permitted to do anything by ourselves, especially without consulting with you first. When Daddy is gone, you literally follow me into the bathroom and play right next to the shower while I’m showering, narrating what you’re doing and expecting responses from me the whole time. You stand by while I use the toilet, while I do my makeup, while I get dressed. While I do laundry. While I cook. While I clean. While I load the car. Wherever I go, there you are. And you talk the whole time, requesting things from me. The. Whole. Time. “Mommy what are you doing. Mommy why are you doing that. Mommy when are you going to get me food. Mommy I’m hungry. Mommy I want you to play this with me. When you’re done getting ready you will play with me? Ok. [One second pause.] Are you done now? Oh, no, ok. [One more second pause.] How about now? [Two second pause.] Now??? Why are you doing that, I thought you were going to play with me now. Mommy I’m hungry. Hey Mommy watch this. Mommy I’m hungry. Mommy can I put your makeup on? Mommy are we going somewhere? Mommy what’s this? Mommy…” And if I ask you to go play by yourself so I can be alone for a while, the whole world literally collapses. You lose your mind, sob and wail hysterically. You start making up excuses for why you absolutely must be around me and will tell me “Something hurts somewhere!!” It’s honestly very overwhelming and I’m not sure what to do with it. The other day I made you stay outside my room for 30 minutes while I got ready and you sobbed literally the entire time. I finally came out and knelt down at your level after 30 minutes and between sobs you asked me, “Can. I. Come. In. With. You. Now?” It broke my heart. I’m not sure what’s causing it or how to react to it. Hopefully this too shall pass.



What would be great is if you played with Krewson more, but unfortunately you’re not quite at the maturity level where he wants to play with you all the time. Sometimes you guys will join in together, making forts or running around or throwing things or wrestling, but more often than not he still prefers to play by himself, typically building things with Legos which isn’t something you can really join in on. You would love to play with him 24/7, but you’ve seemed to resign yourself to accepting whatever scraps he’ll throw you, which makes me sad at times. I do see you playing together more and more though, slowly but surely, so I still have hope that one day you’ll be good friends and play together a lot. We just haven’t hit that point yet.



In general, you are loud, hyper, a wee bit crazy at times, and “all boy.” You love cars, trucks, transformers, anything that shoots anything, wrestling, throwing things, hitting, running, and arranging fights between “good guys” and “bad guys” with your cars. More than once, to my embarrassment, you’ve gone up to an unsuspecting child and hauled off and slapped him as a friendly way of inviting him to play. So we’ve explained to you (several times) that it’s not ok to hit people until you ask them first, and even if they want to play that way, we still don’t hit hard.


Nine times out of ten, when there is bickering between you and Krew, it’s because you are picking on him. You have a defiant, ornery streak in you, but you do it in a cutesy deceptively sweet way that probably lets you get away with more than you should. We’ve had to work on your talking back also, as you love to tell us when you disagree with us and question the rules we give you.


At the same time, you sure do love people. You love hugs and being held, which is surprising given that when you were really young you didn’t want to cuddle at all. You will give cuddles at any time now and prefer to always be close to someone, both physically and relationally, with constant interaction.


In terms of “school stuff,” you picked up on your letters and numbers very early, many months ago now, even though neither your daddy nor I really taught them to you. I think you know pretty much the whole alphabet and can also count to a little above 20 (although you frequently get mixed up in the teens). In two weeks you’ll be starting up preschool again, which will be three mornings a week. I’m hoping you’re a little less reluctant to walk into the room and separate from me this year, but we’ll see. I’m not feeling too optimistic with how clingy you’ve been at home lately.


Your favorite sports team right now is no doubt the Raleigh Flyers, which is the professional ultimate frisbee team that your daddy is playing for. You request to wear your Raleigh Flyers shirt daily, and you love talking about Raleigh Flyers at any time of day. You will randomly and frequently bust out chanting a Raleigh Flyers cheer which cracks everyone up. I love your enthusiasm for your Daddy’s team and I know it warms his heart.


Speaking of those Raleigh Flyers chants, you have an incredibly loud and clear voice that rings through the air and has been known to trigger head pains in me and your daddy when we’re having headachey days. However, I think this could be an awesome thing, because you also love to sing and started being able to sing on tune and hit notes several months ago. So if it turns out you can carry a tune as you grow older, you’ll also have the vocal chords for it. You do have an opera-singing uncle so there’s definitely potential in your genetics. ;)


In terms of growth, you are currently about 37.5 inches tall and around 33 lbs. You're wearing mostly 2T clothes still, because boys' clothes run baggy, and in general your daddy and I prefer less baggy clothing on you boys. You feet are around size 7, and you are now POTTY TRAINED praise the Lord so you don't wear diapers anymore. :) Your eyes are a medium/light brown and your hair fluctuates between light brown in the winter and dark blonde in the summer. (So right now it's dark blonde.)


Your winter look (left) and summer look (right).


And of course, I have to mention something about your diet, although I want to keep it short and sweet. I don’t ever want you to feel like your health issues and diet restrictions define who you are, because they don’t. They are something you are going through, but they are not you. Nonetheless, I have to say that buddy, you absolutely rock with your diet. You are learning what you can and cannot eat, and when you know you can't eat something you absolutely don't eat it. When you see something in front of you that you’re not sure of, you ask if you’re allowed to eat it. You rarely, if ever, complain when someone eats something you can’t have in front of you. You just go with the flow and follow the rules. I’ve never seen you try to sneak anything or taste anything you’re not sure of. This is such a relief to me as your momma...I don’t feel as concerned about you possibly eating something you shouldn’t, and I also don’t feel as sad for you because you really don’t seem sad. I thank God so much for this blessing in the midst of all our health and diet struggles with you. It helps make my heart lighter.


Alright G-Roy, I think that’s all for now. Your Daddy and I love you so much and feel so blessed and privileged to have you as our little boy.

Lots of love,
Mommy

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