Happy 3rd Birthday, Preston

I still remember the day Preston was born like it was yesterday. I'm sure every mother will always remember the day their precious baby was born and store those memories away in a very special and safe place, never to be forgotten. Because the day your child is born, is one of those most special days you'll ever experience.

I've now been mothering this sweet and rambunctious boy for three years. Three whole years?! It's been a good three years, but boy have these years been filled with lots of ups, and a whole lot of downs. This past year has been pretty trying on my little guy, and I wish I would have had more patience with him and understood this better. But I'm human, and we're all learning, and quite frankly he just doesn't listen, and I just yell too much.

This boy has had to deal with lots of big life changes these last twelve months. From getting a new sister, to leaving his house and friends behind, to bouncing from one families house to the next, and then finally flying across the ocean to a whole new country, bouncing from one hotel room to the next, moving into our house with government furniture, only for that to be taken away a few weeks later, and our actual household goods apeparing, it was rough. In fact, Preston even went through a period of extreme stuttering and we realized the poor boy had gone through so much stress, that this was his bodies way of dealing with it. It broke our hearts.

We've had days where everything starts and ends in a tantrum, and no matter how hard we try to reason with him, you just can't reason with a two year old. Days where I don't know how I even survived because my house was nothing short of one crazy circus act after another. The boy is strong-willed and it's hard to stare at this sweet little face and see all of your worst qualities coming out in him. But we're learning.

While he may have a side of extreme crazy, he can also be the sweetest thing you ever met. He loves to try and get us to smile and be happy, even when he's in the middle of being, well, Preston!

He requires you to lay by him when falling asleep at night, or watching him from your own bed, if neither of those things happen, and we try to let him do it alone, we'll soon find him coming down stairs saying, "Hi, mom, how was your day?" or "Hi, mom, I just wanted to talk to you." He'll do anything he can to stall going to sleep. The boy thinks he hates to sleep, but I'm trying to convince him otherwise.

He has a mild obsession with water and can spot even the smallest puddle from miles away. He begs to help wash dishes, just so we can stack everything on top of each other and declare he's made a waterfall. He likes to water our imaginary garden outside...I should probably plant him a real one, and he can take a bath for hours if we'd let him. He loves to play in the ocean, even on a cold day he finds a way to sneak his feet in, which usually turns to fully submerging himself, so, we let him. And it's a darn good thing we live in a place where we don't have to pay for utilities, otherwise we'd have one heck of a water bill.

He loves to play pretend fighting, but usually wants to play the bad guy much to my dismay. He likes to pretend he's shooting everything with his pretend shooters, and runs through our house like we're under attack.

He likes to pretend he speaks Japanese, and will randomly throw out the few words he actually does know, mixed with a whole lot of jibberish. He acts like he's nothing short of fluent. His favorite word use to be quedgi-wedgie. I don't even know where that word/phrase came from, but he rolls with it like he's Japanese himself.

After writing all over his arm with a sharpie marker the other day, and then declaring he hadn't done so, I looked at him and said, "Preston, what did you do?" To which he responded, "anything!" in the most serious tone a two year old is capable of.  I don't dare correct him and tell him its actually "nothing" because "anything" is far funnier.

He ends up in our bed six nights out of seven, and we usually let him stay, even though I swore I'd never be a parent to allow such things to happen. But sometimes it's just easier, and when I already feel sleep deprived, I see no reason to add to it. I always tell John we bought a king sized bed for a reason. But yet it still feels squishy with three.

He loves to draw and color and do all sorts of art projects, unfortunately the wrong parents stays home during the day to really help unleash his inner Picasso.

He loves to think he's in charge, and throws all of our lines we feed him right back at us. "You know the rule!" or, "Do you want a spanking?" It actually makes being in charge rather difficult.

He likes to think he can stop traffic, and anytime we cross the street, he sticks his arm out, and with the most serious face, practically scowls at the oncoming cars as if to say, "don't you dare get any closer." I got mad at him the other day for running away from me down the sidewalk along a busy road. I tried to explain why that was dangerous and that he shouldn't be near a busy road without me. After trying to explain why that could be scary, and that cars are big, and he is small, and sometimes big things don't see small things, he looked at me like I was an idiot and told me he can just stop the cars himself. It's hard trying to separate his imagination from reality. He thinks he can do anything.

My love for this boy is deep. While I want to strangle him most days, and we butt heads a good majority of the time, I still try my best to let him be little, and do the things little boys do without such as a gripe from his mom. But it's hard. It's hard to just let him be him sometimes when the things he wants to do aren't always smart, or safe, or realistic. But oh how I love this kid so much. How is it so possible to be so incredibly annoyed and frustrated at such a little being, yet I just want to grab him, and snuggle him, and smother him with kisses because I just love him so. He's my best buddy. My little sidekick. My three year old that think's he's the king of the world. And sometimes he is, because in that boys imagination, anything is possible.

Happy third birthday to my little man.