Running from the Law: Mac - 3 Years Old

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Mac - 3 Years Old


Dear Mac,

Last month you turned three years old and became a "threenager" nearly overnight.  No longer are you a toddling, timid two-year old, you are a crazy, curious and clever kid that challenges me daily and constantly makes me question my sanity.  I alternate between loving you so fiercely it hurts and desperately wanting to give you away to the gypsies.  I've never seen so much attitude, style, drama and stubbornness wrapped up in one tiny person.  You are something, my child.  
Most of the time, you are pretty stinking awesome.  You are hilarious and witty, charming and devious. You seem like such a big kid these days and talk a mile a minute (you NEVER shut up). You finished your first year of 2-day nursery school and your teachers raved about what great progress you made (no more crying at dropoff!) and how smart and sweet you are.  You love talking about your friends at school and the fact that they let you use scissors (OMG)!  That was a huge day for you. I think you were genuinely excited to start summer camp there in June (so long as there are scissors). You go three half-days a week, which is the same schedule you'll have in the fall and you're doing great!  No tears at dropoff the first day, despite lots of other kids having meltdowns.  I was so proud of you (and also slightly sad that you were way more interested in the water hose than in me).
You are still wild, adventurous and incredibly active.  You have boundless energy and both your body and mind seem to be going 100 mph until you crash.  You still take a nap (most days), but could probably drop it and be fine (at this point it's more for our sanity than yours).  If you're awake, you are always moving.  You can't sit still for longer than a minute or two and your attention span, while getting better, is milliseconds.  You are so incredibly physical these days and throw, hit, kick or slam anything you get your hands on.  You are so aggressive and passionate in your play and love and the rest of us are constantly covered in bruises.  
You're finally starting to understand imagination play and it's incredible to watch you play and come up with elaborate stories and scenarios for us.  You love hunting for pirate treasure, battling snow monsters and looking for aliens.  I think you get most of your "play" scenarios from episodes of Paw Patrol, which is the only show you have any interest in watching (for about 3 minutes before moving on).  You still love books and we're starting to read some fairy tales and longer books with more words and fewer pictures these days, which makes me SO excited.  If I have to read "Spot Goes To The Farm" one more time I might throw it out the window.  Bring on the Harry Potter.  
You sing all the time and I absolutely love it.  You can finally carry a tune, remember lyrics and anything you sing in your little voice makes me want to melt.  You can sing about 10 different songs and you also sing silly phrases here and there, which is just adorable.  Wednesdays at camp are your favorite because it's "Music with Robert" day and you get to sing and dance.  You love your bedtime songs and have started asking for more silly songs, which I'm happy to oblige you with.  It makes all those years of sitting around a campfire singing at Girl Scout camp finally worth it.  
You have officially entered the "why" phase and ask me "why" nearly eight thousand times a day.  However, you don't ask regular "why" questions that have real answers (like why is the sky blue?), you ask the most infuriating "why" questions that I cannot even begin to explain to you.  Examples include: Why is school this way?  Why is that coffee?  Why are there worms?  Why is the beach at Florida? Why is this your car?  Why is yellow?   I mean, how am I supposed to answer these?  They don't even make sense!  I don't want to be a curiosity buzzkill, but it drives me nuts!  
You still love being outside more than anything.  You love playing on the neighbor's swingset and slide.  You love riding your new big boy bike!  You chase butterflies, dig for worms, lift heavy rocks and collect rolly pollies.  You love going for runs with your dad in the stroller (especially if you get to stop for a snow cone or see a train).  You pull Mim up and down our street in the wagon.  You play basketball with the older neighborhood boys and drive the Barbie Jeep with the girls.  You've gone fishing with your dad and grandpa numerous times and think it's the greatest thing in the world.  You keep asking me when we can go back to the beach.  
You are friendly to everyone you meet and don't seem to know a stranger these days.  You say hi to everyone and get offended if they don't return the greeting, whether we're in the grocery store or taking a walk to town.  You love animals and give them just as much attention as people.  You talk to the animals at the zoo, know the names of every dog on our street and last weekend you greeted every bird at the Wild Bird Sanctuary with "Hi birdie, cock-a-little-doo!"  You love being the center of attention and will do just about anything to have everyone focused on you all the time.  We can immediately tell if your sister is getting more attention than you, based on your attitude and how destructive you're being.  
And speaking of your little sister, you are finally coming around to her...sometimes.  You love it when she laughs at you and love it when she's paying attention to you, but most of the time you're still very jealous of her and ignore her as much as you can.  Which I'll take any day over terrorizing and tormenting her, which you also do sometimes. Now that's she's getting more mobile and interesting to you, you've tried playing with her a few times.  You say things like, "Come over here Mims and hold this ball while I hit it with a golf club." Of course she has no idea how to play or what you want, but it's very sweet when you try to be friends with her.  Occasionally you will give her a random hug or kiss (which completely melts my heart), but more often than not it's a random punch or shove (which worries me).  She's going to grow up so tough (hopefully tough enough to kick your ass).  However, we were at a park last week and some of the other little kids were talking to her and you got so possessive and keep saying, "that's my sister!" to them and dragging her away from them.  I think you might just be an amazing and protective big brother after all.
You have a MAJOR sweet tooth and no longer seem to be interested in eating breakfast, lunch or dinner...ever.  Well, you will eat breakfast, as long as it's French Toast covered in syrup AND powdered sugar.  That's your meal of choice.  You will eat anything with sugar and do almost anything for it, including potty training, taking photos, picking up toys or being quiet while I rock your sister to sleep.  Thank God you're bribeable, otherwise we'd never get anything done.  

I love you to the moon and back, Macaroni.  You are one of a kind.  I hope you never ever change.

Love,
Your mama
Favorite songs:
1. Ram Sam Sam
2. On Top of Spaghetti
3. ABCs

Favorite foods:
1. Suckers
2. Cookies
3. Ice Cream

Favorite clothing:
1. Babiators
2. Rain coat
3. Camo Crocs

Favorite sayings:
1. Let's do it!
2. I don't want to!
3. Want to play something with me?
(while cooking in his little play kitchen)
"Mama, I'm a good cook.  I never make the smoke alarm go off like you do."

(while playing basketball)
Me: Good shot, you're really good at basketball.
Mac: I know, I'm a really good baller.

Me: I was thinking about making a special dessert tonight...funnel cake!
Mac: Funny snake?
Me: No, funnel cake.
Mac: Funnit snake?
Me: No, funnel cake.
Mac: Tunnel cake?
Me: Yeah.
Mac: I like tunnel cake.
Me: Please don't kick me in the stomach.
Mac: Why? There's a baby in there?
Me: No, there's no baby.  Do you want another baby?
Mac: Yes!
Me: Really?  You want another baby like Mim?
Mac: No, I want a black baby.
Me: I don't know if your dad and I can make a black baby.
Mac: Let's get one at the grocery store.
Me: What would you do with a new baby?
Mac: Love it.  And take it for a wagon ride.

Every night when I tuck you in I tell you to sleep well so we can play hard tomorrow.  Until one night you told me you weren't going to sleep very well because you were going to play gentle the next day.  Touche. 

34 comments:

  1. He is hilarious! I want a black baby... Yeah that might be hard! We also sound like similar cooks! It's starting to get embarrassing how many time my alarm company calls while I'm making dinner to make sure there isn't a real fire!

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  2. Oh man - I laughed the whole way through this one! Three is such a hilarious (and hard!) age. The black baby conversation - too much! haha. And the dreaded "why" phase! Lucy's questions have gotten a bit easier to answer now that she's 4 - but I still find myself very often answering "umm - just because". Oh, these kids :)

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  3. I cound seriously relate to everything in this post with my Liam. Hello stubborn (I am too!). And oh the why questions. Sometimes I'm not even sure how to answer them! And it's do fun to hear about Mac at school. Liam starts Montessori in the fall. Two half days... I'm very excited & nervous for it!

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  4. Oh Mac! I can only imagine him on real life, on the daily! He is so precious & hilarious! He makes me excited & nervous for my years ahead! Lol!

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  5. What a cool little dude! I think Mac and Cam would be great buddies. I'm glad I'm not the only one who loves my toddler so much one second and want to give him away the next. :)

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  6. You are so much better at these updates than I am! It's amazing to me how much things have changed in the short time they have been 3! A lot of personality going on!

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  7. Hahahaha!! I just love this...I read the first paragraph aloud to my husband and we were both cracking up because it rings all too true!! But goodness, Mac is the cutest and I just love hearing about what he's up to? Can you believe he's THREE!?! Crazy!

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  8. Oh Mac, I feel like I know you so well... Probably because my own little three-nager sounds just. like. you. I feel like I also know exactly what your momma goes through every. single. day. ;)

    Good luck with the black baby... BAHA!!!

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  9. Oh my goodness! What a cutie! :) He is getting so big! This is such a fun update - I love that you included quotes and conversations! I might need to steal that idea for Jonah's next update - he'll be 3 in December!

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  10. oh how i love Mac & how desperately I wish that Elyse & Mac could hang together! It'd be threenager perfection!

    He's so absolutely precious!

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  11. Such cute pictures of your lil man. & I love that he wants to go get a baby at the grocery store. Too funny. :)

    Mandie ~ http://badbrewpack.blogspot.com/

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  12. Ahh I just love all of the photos and he sounds like the sweetest kind of wild! :) I'm glad he's warming up to his sister more :) You just have the sweetest little family, I know I don't comment a lot but I'm always following along! xo

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  13. I love how you're writing all of this down in such detail and keeping track of the funny little things he says. What else do you do with a new baby but love it and take it on wagon rides? He's adorable.

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  14. Haha 3 year olds sure are funny! Sounds just like my little guy. They are all getting so big and smart... too smart!

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  15. So many LOLs here! You perfectly captured the threenager phase. The why questions had me cracking up. We're not quite there yet, but I'm guessing I'll have to teach Ez how to use Google young ;)

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  16. Our grocery store doesn't carry black babies. I must be going to the wrong one! hahaha! Also, I had a random dream about you guys this week. We drove three hours to get to your house at midnight because I guess that's when you guys have rockin backyard parties. I don't remember many details except there was a lot of playground equipment and waterslides, and the kids were definitely up playing and hanging out. Which all sounds completely legit. I mean, that is what you do in the wee hours of the mornings, right?

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  17. Oh my goodness! Kids say the funniest things! He sounds so much like Jackson. He's just adorable.

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  18. What a fun post! I love all the pictures. He sounds like a fun little dude. But yes, 3 is a different ball game.

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  19. What a fun post! I love all the pictures. He sounds like a fun little dude. But yes, 3 is a different ball game.

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  20. What a fun post! I love all the pictures. He sounds like a fun little dude. But yes, 3 is a different ball game.

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  21. Your description of Mac reminds me SO much of my little guy... and he's only 9 months old! I can't wait for all the sass and cleverness of the threenage years! (and I'm half serious, half kidding).

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  22. I love these posts that you do! The details and such will be so wonderful to look back on. I wish mine were this detailed. Also, I love the variety of pictures you chose to include. You really get to 'know' Mac through them and through your descriptions. I feel like I know you guys! And seriously, I think I called Mason a toddler the other day and then I realized, really can a THREE year old be considered a toddler?! My gosh they are growing up too fast!

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  23. Mac is so expressive!! He makes me laugh so hard - love the end quotes from him!! I love that you take such time and diligence in these posts - what an incredible gift you have to capture all these wonderful moments!!

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  24. I love him, he sounds so much like Waverly!!!! And I'm with ya, sometimes i loooooove this age & sometimes, I think I might seriously lose my mind. ;)

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  25. So many why questions at this age! I'd love to hear some of your responses to those haha!

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  26. Great post ! xoxo
    Antonella

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  27. Your conversations with Mac are my favorite! :) So funny. And I swear him and Carter are two peas in a pod. Everything you have said sounds just like him besides that Carter is obsessed with loving on his sister. Camo crocs are a favorite in our house too!!

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  28. Those quotes from Mac are hysterical! He's growing up so fast.

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  29. hahaha...aggressive love. I know that one! Aria is just a bulldozer. I'll say oh Aria that hurt, and she'll say but I just love you. The gypsies do look pretty good from time to time. Esp around 4/5pm.

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  30. I always laugh when I read these posts- I can just imagine him doing or saying some of these things. And ohh the black baby- HAHA! Too funny! Your kids sound amazing.

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  31. Crying over the black baby at schnucks comment. OMG, Mac is the best!!!

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  32. The black baby thing made me actually really truly laugh out loud! So funny! Oh threenagers...

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  33. This was amazing, I laughed the entire time as I read it and I know you'll enjoy looking back on this recap! :) What a fun, fearless and sweet boy you have on your hands! Xo, Stephanie

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