Dearest Mikey –

In the words of my favorite Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’:

When you smile I come undone
My son
There is so much more inside me now
You outshine the morning sun
My son
When you smile, I fall apart
And I thought I was so smart

I can’t believe it’s been three years since you made your grand entrance into the world. It seems like you’ve been here so much longer and other days it seems like you should still be the wrinkly baby who resembled Benjamin Button.  Here is a snapshot of you on your third birthday:

You legs are impossibly long. Each morning when I get you dressed it seems you grew another foot overnight. You are long and lanky for now. Your hair has a personality all it’s own. Geema keeps telling me to ‘train it’ – but I can’t. It picture lots of buzz cuts as you get older! Your eyelashes, OH those lashes. I have to keep my jealousy under control because they are so long. Though your toe nails are … strange, you fingers are so long – perhaps you will play the piano!

You are a comedian already. You love to use different voices and point to things while calling them ‘funny’. Daddy and I have learned quick if we laugh at you it is a promise you will keep doing it. Your laugh is infectious. You lose your eyes when you smile like me and you open your mouth wide even for a giggle.

You put a lot of thought into choices. Whether it’s your shirt, book or snack you tap your finger on your chin and say ‘hmmm’. We try to give you as many choices as possible or you would be eating hot dogs and Minion gummies while wearing the same Batman shirt everyday.

Ah Batman. Where did you learn about super heroes? It seems to have started with PJ Masks and your friend at daycare and now suddenly you MUST, AT ALL TIMES wear something Batman related.

You are impossibly sweet. The minute someone says ow, you are right there asking if they are okay, needing a band aid or, more importantly, a kiss. You had your first urgent care visit this year and handled it like a champ. You were dancing too hard (I find that hard to believe, but alas it’s a thing) and fell into the bookcase. You had a pretty nasty goose egg pop up quickly so while Momma silently freaked out, Daddy packed you up and away we went. Of course you were just fine.

You still are hopelessly addicted to your ‘bubbas’. You only get them at bedtime and nap time and most mornings you are very hesitant to put them back to bed. When you are very very very tired, you cry for them. That’s how we know it’s time for a nap!

Speaking of naps, you are starting to put up a fight at nap time. You are more than happy to jump in your crib and throw stuff around and sing for a couple hours, but when we realize you actually fell asleep? That is like finding a unicorn in the closet. You will regret your lack of napping when you are older kid.

You love anything with wheels – fire trucks (tucks), motorcycles (cycles), excavators (underwear), dump trucks (boom tuck), and even buses. You also love reading which makes me oh so happy! Plenty of evenings I glance over to see you lost in another adventure. You still like Llama Llama, but also Diggers Go and any that feature the alphabet. You’ve gotten pretty good at reminding us when we skip pages too.

You had to do speech therapy for a bit, but now you are a motor mouth. Asking why, what color everything is, what everyone is doing, where we are going, if I am tired (yes my love, very very tired) and for your favorite foods. Food like chocolate milk, pepperonis, gummies, jelly beans, rice, hot dogs, chicken and melon. All at once! Your tastes fluctuate often enough that I can’t think of anything that you don’t like!

My sweet, sweet boy. I am so proud of you and the gentleman you are becoming. Never ever lose your empathy for others and remember Momma and Daddy wanted you so much and love you twice as much. One day I will show you the receipts to prove how much we wanted you. Until then – stay you.

I’ll eat you up I love you so,

Momma xoxo