Three!

 

Just like that, he's three. We had a big party here at our house on Saturday to celebrate. It was a great party with six little friends and their families here to help us celebrate. The weather couldn't have been better -- a cloudless, warm, sunny day that was made to order. The kids played barefoot in the sandbox, jumped on the trampoline and ran around the yard as if it were a spring day. The theme was construction because at the moment Andrew is pretty serious about construction trucks. So, we took him over to the John Deere heavy equipment store for some three year old pictures. He was too excited to look at me for the most part, but I like the way some of the pics turned out.

When the weekend was over, Greg asked him what his favorite part was -- the party, the gifts, the friends, going to the park on Sunday? No. His favorite part was the cake. He truly is a boy after my heart. I made his cake and it turned out great.

 

Today, we enrolled Andrew in two day a week preschool on base at the Child Development Center. He'll be in a brand new facility that is just amazing. We spent some time in the classroom, which Andrew later described as "awesome." I am a bit nervous about how he will do -- it is much different from the Mother's Day Out program he has been in for the past year -- but I know he will adjust and it will be good for him.

 

And so we keep moving forward. Each day brings new questions -- a game Greg likes to call "stump the dummy" since many times we feel ill equipped to answer. "How does it work?" "Where does it come from?" I'm sure all parents can identify with the seemingly endless questions of a preschooler.

 

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite books was "Where Did the Baby Go?" about a little girl looking back at photos of the baby she once was and wondering why she had never seen this baby, where did it go?

 

When I look at our boy, I often wonder "where did the baby go?" Those first days seemed so hard and so long and I remember thinking we might never move beyond that stage of such neediness. My emotions were so raw and I was so very tired. Now, it's "I can do it myself, Mama" which comes as bittersweet relief. I remember reading a quote that went something like "the days are long but the years are short," and I know now that is so true. Three years. Poof.

 

Happy birthday, sweet Andrew.