Dear Hammy - 3 years old Part 2

Okay Ham,

So let's do a recap of Year 3.

February - March --- Month1

You were embarrassed by my love for you. I thought you were too young to feel that way but apparently not.

 

 

Daddy and I bought you a tractor which you absolutely had no interest in. But before we could become too heartbroken about it you embraced your country side and drove the tractor through the yard like you were on a farm. You quickly learned how to park it in the garage by yourself and would switch to high speed when you took it to the park with daddy.

 

 

 

 

Your obsession with water continued on in your 3rd year. Here you are cleaning the ice chest, which is just another excuse for you to play with the hose. I tried to find productive things for you to do with the hose, such as watering my plants. However, you would water the bricks instead, or the sidewalk, the grass, or me.

 

At 3, you LOVE to paint, which makes me really happy because I do too. You paint a bird house and plenty of pictures.

 

 

You also practiced being a good brother to your future little sister. You listened for her heartbeat and pretended to feed her.

  

  

Dear Hammy- 3 years old Part 1

Dear Hammy,

It's your last night as a three year old! I can't believe it. What a year this has been! I've been thinking about this letter for a while now as I watched your last few weeks as a 3 year old fly by. You started off this year as a baby and grew into such a big boy. You learned so much and you made your dad and me so proud. It wasn't always easy for everyone because as you were learning to become more independent, we were learning how to step back and let that happen. There were tantrums, tears, high-fives, hugs, and belly laughs. You forced us to learn patience and how to except the many changes that this year brought. I don't know if I'll ever forget how big of year it was or how much you taught me. You pushed me to be a better mom and person. At this age, I see so much of my stubborn, strong will, and so much of your dad's kind heart and keen eye for detail. You are a good, sweet boy that we thank God every day for.

Without getting any more sappy, I promise, I will give you a recap of this special year.

 

To be continued.

 

 

 

 

 

Butternut Squash and Tractor Trouble

Hattie's finally at the age where we can start introducing food. Even though I'm interested in trying out the "baby led weaning" approach of feeding her, I may still give her a few pureed vegetables every now and then.

Here's some cute pictures of her eating butternut squash.

She's not as enthusiastic about food as Ham was, but she's a good sport about it.

 

 

 

In other news, Ham's tractor looks like it may be on its last leg. We aren't sure. Ham was absolutely convinced that he could fix it. He ran into the house several times to get all the tools he thought he would need to get the job done (a saw, wrench, nail gun and jackhammer). It was running again after lunch so whatever he did might have done the trick.

Kemah

Last weekend, Mr. Yardbird and I took the kids to Kemah boardwalk for a mini-vacation. We had not stayed in a hotel together since we practically lived in one for a year when Jason worked in Beaumont.

It brought back all of our hotel memories including the smell of complimentary breakfast in the morning, watered down coffee, and Ham's love for the hotel luggage cart (which he likes to call the "rectangle thing with the two H's")

We also remembered how hard it was to get Ham to sleep in a hotel room. :)

...and how creative he can get when he gets bored in a hotel room.

For example the "water tank" he made from pillows.

When we got to the Boardwalk we had to check out the helicopters the Army brought out for Veteran's Day.

Ham said when he gets "big, big, bigger" he's going to fly this helicopter.

Then we went to buy tickets for the rides and someone was so excited he couldn't stand it.

And Hattie was happy being Hattie, rides or no rides.

We took turns riding rides with Ham.

Mr. Yardbird squeezed in a few moments to admire some sailboats.

 

 

...and all in all we had really nice time in Kemah!

So Sorry!

After I picked Ham up from school today, I dumped out the contents of his school bag to see if there was anything in there that needed to be signed and returned to school, any makeup work, etc.

A folded up fan rolled out and bag of Hershey kisses.

They must have rewarded him with the bag of chocolate and I'm guessing he picked the fan from the treasure chest.

I don't know why it makes me smile, but I picture in my head Ham choosing a fan as his must-have and it makes me chuckle a little.

I told him he could eat his chocolate in the playroom while I feed the baby.

About ten minutes later, Ham runs in like it's a complete emergency, throws his hands in the air and screams "I ate it ALL! ALL of the chocolate! and.....I didn't SHARE!"

His eyes are big as saucers.

"Who were you going to share it with, Ham?"

"YOU!....I'm so sorry!"

"That's okay, Hammy." I said. But it made me feel good that he thought of me after he ate the last one.

Later on, I went to the playroom to check on him and I wrapped my arms around him to give him a big hug.

"When did you get so big!" I said. "I can't really hold you anymore."

We hugged for a minute or two before Ham pulled back to look at me in the face.

"I'm so sorry I got so big, Mommy. One day I will get little again so you can hold me."

Sigh.

Speaking of kids getting so big so fast.

Hattie is now 5 months!

And while she hasn't yet created funny stories like Ham has, we are already seeing a great sense of humor, so who knows!

At 5 months - Hattie is laughing till she hiccups (a trait Ham and she share), she thinks putting her pjs on is hilarious, and she has finally stopped flirting with every air vent in the house. That was getting out of control. She is a super big sweetheart and so easygoing. And she think Ham hung the moon and Ham is not going to disagree with her on that.

Pumpkin Patch and Trunk or Treat

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Not for the ghost or goblins but for the pumpkins, fall, cool weather, candy and costumes.

It takes me back to Halloween at my Aunt Carrie's house where we skipped from house to house on cracked sidewalks in the dark. Then we poured big bags of candy on the floor on her living room and began sorting and counting all the candy to see who got the most.

Last weekend we went with Mama B to the ultimate pumpkin patch where we experienced a really amazing version of Halloween complete with a sand pit, giant slide, tire mountain, tiny town, train, live music, homemade ice-cream, pumpkin patch and million other things at the Mitchell Peanut Farm.

Here's a recap:

 

It may be Hattie's first Boo but don't mess with her

Ham working extra hard on his serious face or contemplating what kind of candy he will trade his sister for.

 

 

 

 

And today Ham had a Trunk or Treat. It was our first time so I had to google to make sure I did my part of the deal. Ten minutes before it started I prayed there was still a spot in the parking lot for Hattie and I. There was and I, very swiftly, went to work making my car look Halloween festive. 

Not too shabby
 

 And like any good second time mom, I handed off my daughter to a complete stranger in the next parking spot and said "Hold her while I decorate."
 

 

 Then I found some time to get the stroller out and hope that she's big enough to sit like this in it.
 

She is.
 
It's ironic that she's Rapunzel with no hair to throw down. Sorry Hattie, it's true.
 
And then the kids came walking by...
 
...with Ham in his racecar outfit. And I almost forgot about the big argument we had about the Paw Patrol costume he wanted then refused to wear this morning. Thank goodness for thrift store backup costumes.
 

 
Okay I'll forget about it. This costume is cooler. Way cooler.
 

 
And then we went inside to make a craft and eat.
 

 

 which we were really THRILLED about.

 
Really, really thrilled about.

 
And we went home and poured out all of our candy and toys and found two neat books in the stash which I thought was clever and awesome.

 
And I forced them to take one more picture, because it's my job to aggravate them.

 
 

 

 

 

Boy sister

There are days when I feel like a parenting pro and there are still days when I feel like I'm just doing what I can to get by.

Sometimes for peace and quiet I have these really inventive ideas to keep Ham busy. Like yesterday when I gave him a little bit of flour to put in his kitchen mixer.

"Now don't spill it," I told him.

Before I knew it, he was tugging on my clothes telling me he needed "baking soda". I look down at a child who has flour in his hair, clothes and eyelashes.

 I don't want to know what kind of flour explosion is going on in the playroom but I make myself go look.

Here's what I found. -------------------------->

Besides finding productive ways to occupy a three year old, I also find inventive ways to get him to eat his dinner.

Sometimes, he dances while I shovel food into his mouth. Sometimes we pretend he is a robot eating his dinner. Really, it's whatever works at the time.

Last night, between bites he said, " Now you need to eat your dinner, mommy."

"I am."

"You need to eat all your dinner so we can put a baby back in your belly." I stopped shoveling food and put the fork down.

"I want a boy sister now." he said.

Hmmph.