James is Three!

James turned three at the beginning of December.  He had been anticipating that day for a very long time.  He can't hold three fingers up yet, but that doesn't stop him from holding all five of his fingers out at an awkward angle and telling people, "I'm three!"

James is quick to remind anyone who says otherwise that he is indeed a big boy.  

He really believes that he is.

James still loves his moose.  I told myself a long time ago that when he turned three, I'd make sure he stopped bringing it with him everywhere we go.  But now I don't have the heart to do it.  I can wait until he's four, right?  

That moose is James's lifeline.  He is soothed by it in every way.  He loves the antlers so much that I've had to sew the ends back up three times and stitch the entire things back on twice.  The stuffing has worked its way out of a particular section the antlers thanks to James's constant stroking of his favorite part.  He likes to hold that piece of the antler under his nose as he sucks his thumb.  The fur is matted and will forever smell like a variety of food, no matter how many times we wash it.  The stuffing in the body is squashed and mashed and lumpy and much less pillow-y than it began.  James holds it around the neck so often that the head flops and lolls about

When James is upset (which is relatively often), he will sob, "I want my moosie!"  And usually the kids run and get it for him.  When he gets hurt, he doesn't even have to ask (but he does).  The kids find the moosie.  

I even let him take it to the store.  I know I am a total pushover about it.  I think I am ok with that fact.  

James gets stressed very easily, especially in new situations.  He always wants his moose and a few snuggles from me.  If he gets those things, he is back to normal pretty soon.

James has a silly side.  We all love this side of him.  He loves to crack jokes.  He delightedly points out when other people are joking as though it is the cleverest thing he's ever seen.  "You're joking!" he'll say, pointing at the person of interest and giggling.

He doesn't,  however, enjoy anyone cracking a joke at his expense.  

James has always been clever about getting what he wants.  Does he manipulate me?  Oh yes.  I play into it all the time.  He is too smart for his own good.

He doesn't get Joel nearly as often, but James gets him more often than any of our other kids did.  

One day our neighbors, who are our good friends, sent over a plate of cookies.  The kids ate them up and James wanted more.  When I told him there were none left, I was surprised when he didn't complain.  A few minutes later, James reappeared through the garage door with two cookies in his hand.  I opened my mouth to say something but James beat me to it.  "Mommy," he said quickly and sweetly, "I got this cookie for you!"

 I asked my neighbor about it and she said he rang her doorbell and asked for "a few more cookies for my mom."

She laughed and brought him two and let him know that his mom could have as many cookies as she wanted.  

James just replied, "This isn't a few."  She laughed again and sent him home.

James was clever enough to get more to eat under the ruse of doing me a favor.  Did that surprise any of us?  No.

James is very sweet as well.  Once, we were driving in the car late at night and William was a little scared.  Through his whimpering we heard James pipe up repeatedly until someone acknowledged his sentiment:  "William, don't worry.  I am right here with you!"

Or James often finds me upstairs and says, "Mommy, will you come down and snuggle with me?  Because I am all alone down there and I don't like to be alone."

I was recently very sick and spent much of the day laying down in my bed.  James came up to find me and said, "Mommy, will you come downstairs with me?"

"Oh, I can't right now buddy, I'm sorry," I replied weakly.

"I will get you some water."

I laughed.

James looked perplexed.  "But mommy, you told me this morning that water will help you feel better."

James also wants to be friends with everyone, especially his siblings friends.  William's best friend lives next door and James spent all summer a little jealous of the attention William and his friend paid each other.  

One night as I was tucking James in bed, he said to me matter-of-factly, "Mommy, Alanna likes me a little and she likes William a lot."  He was upbeat about it but also spoke so I knew he knew the case was closed on that subject.

James loves to work a situation to his advantage.  Case in point: a recent bedtime conversation with him. 

James loves having a fan running while he goes to sleep.  Ashley doesn't.  This is somewhat problematic as they share a room.  However, Ashley usually falls asleep immediately which leaves our awake James able to ask for the fan to be on, free and clear.

A few nights ago, James was a little over eager.

James:  Ashley is asleep so I can go turn on the fan.

Ashley:  I am not asleep yet, James.

James:  Ashley, you need to go to sleep or you will be in trouble.

Ashley:  Sorry James, I am not sleeping yet.

James:  But Ashley, you need to go to sleep so I can turn the fan on!

Me:  Why don't you ask Ashley nicely, and if she says no then you will just have to wait.

James:  Ashley, can I please have the fan on?

Ashley:  (shakes head no)

James:  Awwww.

Ashley (to me):  Why does he even need the fan on?  He is just going to get in bed with you anyway.

Me:  Well, not until morning.

James:  I only snuggle with Mommy in the morning time.  Not at night.

James (to me):  I snuggle with you every morning, because I like snuggling with you.

This brings me to another point:  I've never let any of my children come sleep with me for as long as I have let James.  For one thing, I'm tired and don't usually notice him slyly slipping under the covers on my side of the bed.  For another thing, I don't have the heart to move him.  He is so sweet when he is snuggling.  

I mean, how can I say no to this face?  

James loves watching his favorite shows and will watch them all day long if we let him.  In the past few months he's been into Clifford and Scooby Doo.  You'd think he loves Scooby Doo for the dog, but he loves the show because he loves Daphne.  When we turn it on, James loves to say, "Mommy, you and me can be Daphne."  I am not sure why he picked her out as his favorite but he is a die-hard Daphne fan.

Very recently, James got into Spiderman--specifically the show from the early eighties with Firestar and the Iceman.  I've tried him on other Spiderman series but he doesn't want anything to do with them.  They are not the true Spidermans, apparently.

So far, James is the only one of my kids who really loves dressing up.  He has worn Everett's old Spiderman costume night and day for the past three days.  He is amazed by Spiderman's abilities.  He loves everything about the show.   He cannot be Spiderman without also wearing the plastic mask we have, also a first in our family.

He loves to knock me out.  Then he'll inform me about what being dead is all about (this has been a topic of interest for him for the past six months).  

"Mommy, I need to tell you something.  When humans be dead, they have to close their eyes.  But I'm not dead anymore!"

It was with great pleasure that we threw James a little family birthday party.

He got many nice presents from his grandparents and his siblings, including this train from my grandparents.  They have made one for the other kids and James had anxiously been waiting for his turn to receive the coveted package in the mail.

Thanks to William, James is also into dinosaurs big time.  So of course James wanted a dinosaur cake.  No problem!  That is one of the easiest cake shapes to make.  Even though he knows many complicated dinosaur names and how to tell a styracosaurus from a triceratops, he was content with a simple, vague, dinosaur shape.

Anything with candles, right?  James was so excited to blow out his candles.

Silly Papa put a trick candle in there, so Ashley helped him out.  If you blow out a trick candle enough times, it will eventually go out.  What fun.

It's been a great year with James.  I had to call poison control on him one time, but that was manageable.  James found a small bottle of children's liquid ibuprofen (I don't know where) and opened it (I don't know how) and drank it down.  The poison control rep said he could drink the whole bottle and be perfectly fine.  Thank goodness.  When I asked James about it, he simply said, "But Mommy, I had a cough!"  

I'll close with one final gem.  

One day James found something of Everett's, probably an intricate lego creation.  I discovered this and said, "James, that is Everett's and he doesn't want anyone to play with it."

"But Everett's at school!"  James insisted, with a twinkle in his eye.