Rhyan: 2.75 years old!

Oh, my sweet Rhyan. You are getting so close to three years old! That makes me excited and sad, proud and overwhelmed all at the same time!

You are such a sweet girl. You are showing that you are a "words of affirmation" girl like your Mama to some extent and you give lots of compliments. You're always telling me "you a good singer, Mommy" (which melts my heart), "thank you say excuse me!" or "thank you say yes maam" to encourage your mommy and daddy to use good manners, too :-)

You tell me when I am getting ready (even if i'm not done, yet and am still looking rough) "you so cute, mommy!" which, again, melts my heart.

You continue to love music. You love to dance and especially want your mommy and daddy to dance with you.You are POTTY TRAINED! (i'll do a separate post on that process) You love your big girl panties and on occasion show them off to anyone who will look. We'll work on modesty :-)

You are getting to be a picky eater to some extent. We still dont make you anything different if you say you wont eat what we're having, but you're getting more decisive about what you will and wont eat, even if it means you dont eat much at a meal. It worries your Mama at times, but then I remember that you wont let yourself starve :-) You do still LOVE fruit but you dont really like meat at all. So we make sure we have some sort of bean at dinner each night, since you will eat them.

You still love your "chomme milk". Whats funny is that, at the prompting of your friend Taylor, you named your monkey "Chocolate" and you say his name perfectly.
You still tell me (often) "onna hold you". I dont think i'll ever correct this. Its too sweet.

You love playing outside and digging in the dirt is a favorite for you. I've been grateful for some pretty days this winter so far!

You still take one GREAT nap each day and most days you ask to go to bed after lunch and dinner. You sleep from 1-3:30/4 each day and go to bed between 7:45-8pm.

You love your little brother, although sometimes it is hard for you that we love him, too. You show jealousy from time to time by being clingy, although you've never been mean to Mack. You do, however, yell at him to "STOP IT!" when he screams in his high pitched scream that he does. In your defense, he is terribly loud! But sometimes you cry and say "he scares me!" which can be a little annoying because its totally a fake cry ;-)

You love your daddy and love for him to chase you. You say to him daily "lets run, daddy!" and the two of you just run around the house, having fun. You also love to play with your Thomas Trains with Daddy. And he very much loves to play with you!

You and Mack like to JUMP! (meaning, i hold mack in my arms and jump while you jump and you both LAUGH like crazy). Its so sweet to see the two of you interact :-)
You are quite bossy to spud. I guess you need to be somebody's boss!

You are learning what it means to "obey" and have been getting your first "real" spankings in the last few months for disobeying. You cry when you get spanked, but typically do not repeat the same behavior. And you always tell me after I've spanked you "i'm sorry i did ____, mommy. I wub you" which makes me cry. I hate having to discipline you and pray that your testing of bounds will be short lived. You ARE, after all, quite smart. So maybe you'll catch on.

Church is one of your favorite places. You call it "Gods House" and think that Josh (your sunday school teacher/crush) lives there :-) Ashlyn is a favorite person of yours, too, but Josh ranks a little higher for whatever reason.

We started working on learning your letters this year and we are learning a new letter each week. You catch on QUICK and have a great memory. You pick out the letters you know on signs and in books without prompting. You are also learning numbers and have 0-9 pretty much down pat.

Puzzles continue to be your forte. You are definitely a concrete thinker and dont have a whole lot of imagination (like your mommy, i'm afraid!) We call you the "puzzle master" because you can do 24 piece puzzles that you've never seen before with NO help typically in less than 5 minutes, first time. Its crazy how diligent you are.

We've also learned that quality time is probably your biggest love language. You ask us constantly to "play with me" and if you could have someone read to you ALL DAY LONG, you would be content. Your favorite books right now are Dr Suess's Foot Book and Are You My Mother. You can recite most of both of them on your own and I love listening to you "read". You're so expressive when you read (again, like your mommy).

You are in size 3T shirts and pants.

You got your hair cut and look like a BIG girl now! (especially on the potty! HA!)You have perfected saying the blessing at each meal and remind us to do so if we forget.

And every night you remind me to do "prayers" (even if its been a long night and i'm trying to skip out! bad mommy!) and always insist after we pray that i sing "sunshine" (you are my sunshine) to you. You follow my song with one of your own... "i love you, you love me...". Whats new about this is that recently you started doing the key change and second verse (we're best friends like friends should be). You would sing it 5 or 6 times if i'd let you, so i have to tell you we're all done singing and then you tell me "good night, sleep tight, dont let the bed bugs bite. sweet dreams. i wuuuuub you!". It is so special to your mommy that you and I share that saying just like I used to with your "grandmother" and "papa".

OH, Rhyan. Your daddy and I and Mack and Spud are so blessed to have you in our family. You are our precious first born and I often feel terrible that i have to "learn" by parenting you! But you are so forgiving and anytime I apologize for being short tempered you tell me "its okay, mommy!".

I am indeed grateful to be your Mommy!