Dominic - 3 Years Old!

Wow, our baby is three! He's Cornerstone (Sunday School) age, and I have to submit pre-school registration forms for him this week! Hard to believe. 

Having a three year old means picking your battles. Two days late on the photos, so I'll take what I can get! Even if that means dinosaur jammies haha! He also definitely got candy because he actually sat and smiled for a photo.

How our boy has changed from 1 year to 3 years! 

Weight: 38lb (he fluctuates from 36-40) (94-98 percentile)
Height: 39.5 inches (90th percentile)

Likes:

• Cars, Paw Patrol, sports
• Putting things in his mouth (he has a serious oral fixation). He doesn't even realize he's doing it until I remind him to take something out of his mouth. 
• Routine. He likes knowing what to expect, and I'm much the same. 

Dislikes:

• Fresh basil, apparently. 
• Having expectations thrust upon him. I feel you, hun.

Notes:

• Size 6 diapers, 9 shoes, 4-5T clothing, depending on the brand. 
• He is a sensitive guy, who shows empathy and wears his heart on his sleeve. Is he his father's son?! He definitely gets part of his personality from me though; he's a textbook introvert. He does much better in small groups, and takes a while to warm up to new people and let them in. He isn't always shy, and has a crazy side, but definitely needs down time after being around people. He has very big feelings. 
• He's so cute with Emilia most of the time. I often overhear him teaching her how to say words, "Emilia, can you say Corvette? Emilia, can you say magazine? Emilia, can you say drill? Emilia, can you say Magnatiles?" You get the idea. Or if I go upstairs to fold laundry or something, I can hear him say, "It's okay Emilia, Mommy will be RIGHT back!"  
• He loves cars. I don't know how to express how well he knows cars. You don't believe it till you see it. He names so many cars on the road. I couldn't even list the ones he knows and can identify by just the headlights, tail lights, or body shape. He exceeds my knowledge/recognition for sure. One of his favorite activities is to line up his cars, name them, drive them around and play out little stories with them. 
• He's also oddly good at puzzles. Maybe it's normal and I just think he's awesome, but other people seem to be impressed too. Ashleigh says his pattern recognition is really good, which makes sense. 
• He's started going to Cornerstone at church. About 6 weeks ago he asked if he could go up there instead of to nursery because, "there's too many babies in nursery." Um... okay. When did you get so big?! He still needs one of us to go with him, and he doesn't quite have the attention span required to sit through songs, story and craft, but we're getting there! It helps greatly if Isla is in Sunday School too. "Isla is my best friend." 
• He is a pretty adventurous eater, but also likes to be 3 and assert his independence randomly. 
• He will be potty-trained soon. He's definitely capable, and if/when I can find a full weekend to dedicate to potty-training, I think it'll be done quickly. Right now he's just stubborn about going on the potty. We haven't been pushing it, but we do have Paw Patrol underwear ready for him. 
• He's so cautious about new things. Even many of his gifts for his birthday/Christmas he will take a long time to warm up to. Eventually he will though, we just can't push him or else he shuts down. We haven't worked much on his alphabet, etc. He still knows them all and the sounds they make. He can count to... 12, and then 14, 17, 20, 49! Obsessed with the number 49 for some reason. He knows lots of shapes and points them out while we're out (yield sign is a triangle, for example). 
• He is in a big boy bed! Apparently 6 months ago he was still in the crib. No more! He naps like 50-60% of the time. Otherwise, because he's such an introvert (and I need my me-time), we still keep him in his room for two hours so he can rest, play, nap, do whatever he likes in there. We have a video monitor to make sure he's not getting into too much trouble. He is honestly as refreshed after two hours of quiet play time as a two hour nap. 

I love this smile <3

Also in her jammies, holding a banana! Haha. He refused to get his picture taken until she climbed up. 

We love our gentle giant so much. I can't believe there was ever a time where he wasn't in our lives. Or a time where he was so small he would fit in my lap, and I could carry him for hours, and he would sit still for more than 30 seconds!