Best of 2011: THREE Years Old & Loving It!

Simon! That kid is such a character. There is really no other good way to describe him. He is fun and funny and has quite the mind of his own. As we always say of Simon, "The little man knows everything!". He walks into every room like he owns the place and knows just what his plans are.

This is Simon on his 3rd birthday, October 29. We had a party at the park with some of his best little buddies. Of course, after being 100+ degrees for , oh, 5ish months, suddenly it was windy and freezing that day. Of course.

Oh well, we had a blast anyway. Sure the cute decor and doughnut-pops blew away. Do you think this guy cared? (No, he did not.)

He played on the swings, ran around with his friends, went down the slide...

...so much fun!

My favorite part was when we sang Happy Birthday to Simon, and he sang along, 10 times louder than anyone else in the crowd. "Happy Birthday, dear Simon!"

Mmm, worm cake!

Due to his mother's extreme laziness and distaste for potty training, we have waited until the last week of 2011 to cross "Potty Train Simon" of my 2011 to-do list. He's doing awesome and I'm super proud of him, but I super hate potty training. But just think, if I get my act together, I could legitimately be DONE with diapers by this time next year...Lucy will be 2 1/2, so maybe we'll make post-Christmas/pre-New Year's week a traditional potty training week. Now that would be pretty exciting!

Other Simon tidbits:

• Simon loves his blankies. His favorite one is named...wait for it..."Favorite One". But in a pinch, "Number Four", "Choo Choo" or "Whitie" will do. "Greenie" never really caught on, but "Big New Favorite One" is finding some favor lately.
• Simon recently said "bye-bye to cribbie" and is loving his big boy bed. He has it filled with his "Octis" (a shameful number of Sonic kid-meal stuffed toys) and all of his many Snoopys. He also keeps several flashlights handy and loves his glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars.
• Simon likes to do what Simon likes to do whenever Simon likes to do it and he is not concerned with pleasing you. Most of the time. Every now and then he'll throw you a bone.
• Simon loves to be read to and sung to. He also loves Phineas and Ferb, but who doesn't? :)
• Simon can sing his "ABCDs" and count really well, but has no concept of color. He can sort things into color piles, so I don't think he's color blind, but for some reason color names just aren't sticking for him. I'm sure it will click when he feels like making it click.
• After being super slow to speak, Simon is that chattiest, most articulate kiddo ever. I just love some of the crazy things that come out of his mouth. He is truly a budding comedian. Just ask him. No one thinks Simon is funnier than Simon himself.

And I could go on, but I'll stop. So glad to have this guy in my brood. He keeps me on my toes and I just adore him.