Happy 3rd Birthday, Emmett!!

Hard to believe that it was three years ago yesterday that my sweet and funny little boy came into our world. Emmett at three years old is as amazing and wonderful as he ever was. He remains a devout "Mama's boy" and has spent the last year glued to my side. He climbs on me constantly and is especially jealous of other children who get my attention, including his sister. He constantly reminds Bethany when it's "Emmett's turn to sit in Mommy's lap, so you have to be patient" but has a hard time being patient himself when his turn is over. Whenever I leave the house without him (which is not often), he screams and throws himself on the floor in an all-out tantrum. And while most kids his age have grown out of this phase a long time ago, he still cries and pouts outside the bathroom door when I lock him out for privacy. If Casey puts him to bed without me, Emmett will stay awake in his room until I come home and give him a kiss good night. Emmett's favorite part of his bedtime routine is the song. He sings "You are my sunshine" and insists that "Mommy, you cuddle with Daddy", and as he serenades us Casey and I have to slow dance. As Emmett sings to us, he wraps his own arms around his shoulders and "cuddle-dances" by himself. Every morning I wake up to Emmett standing next to the bed, breathing heavily into my face. When I open my eyes he says, "Good morning, Mommy! I did wake you up!"

Emmett is a great big brother and loves to make Bethany laugh. He constantly makes funny noises in the hope that Bethany will mimic him, which she frequently does, and then they both giggle about it over and over. Feeding Bethany her "Bethany crackers" (aka. puffs) is infinitely more fun than feeding ducks at the park, and we have to watch him closely so that he doesn't try to shove the crackers into her mouth for her or give her more than she can handle. Emmett likes to make stuffed animals talk and give Bethany kisses, and while this usually makes Bethany giggle, it also usually results in Bethany getting knocked backwards by a too forcefully applied stuffed animal kiss. Then there are tears. Emmett is also good at comforting his sister and exclaims, "Oh sweetie!" whenever she cries. He gives lots of adorable hugs and kisses and worries about her when she whines. In the morning he has to be the one to go into her bedroom first and shouts, "Oh! Good morning sweetheart!" in his high-pitched, squeaky little voice. Then he looks around her room and starts throwing any available objects into her crib for her to play with.

Emmett has learned to love playing pretend. He makes lots of "pizza" by scribbling in his etch-a-sketch and baking it in the "pretend" oven-- the sit-and-spin toy that we have. Then he asks us proudly, "Do you think I'm a good pretend cook? I am!" Lately his hands have been turning into "little spiders" and we are supposed to talk to the little spider and ask him yes and no questions to which Emmett will shake his hand up and down or side to side to answer. Whenever I'm cooking in the kitchen, Emmett will come up to me and says, "Well, I'm just going to work so hard like Daddy now" and he goes into the pantry and pumps the can crusher handle up and down as fast as he can, asking me, "Do you think I'm just workin' so hard?"

Sometimes Emmett does get into trouble. As much as he loves to help his baby sister, he also loves stealing her toys, pushing her over, and teasing her by holding items out to her and then pulling them away. Sometimes he hits or kicks us, and he has developed a severe case of selective hearing. Within the last two weeks he has started hitting himself and banging his head against the walls when he is in time out. He'll hurt himself and then cry out, "It hurts me, Mommy!" I know he wants me to kiss the owie and cuddle him when he does this, but instead I dump a cup of water in his face each time until he can sit nicely in time out without hurting himself. I don't know if that's the best way to handle it or not, but I'm really not sure what to do when he gets that deeply into a tantrum.

Although Emmett has never been particularly shy, he is becoming increasingly so all the time. He's a little nervous around other kids and can take a while to warm up and talk with adults. When he is in nursery and at joy school he mostly just plays quietly by himself. Although he may hit Casey or I at home occasionally, we've never seen him hit or act out toward anyone else yet. No one who knows him believes he could ever be anything but an angel, and I do have to admit that in spite of the little melt downs we see, he is still a remarkably well-tempered, sweet, and angelic boy. There is nothing Emmett wants more than to get the approval of and spend time with his mommy and daddy.

Our little boy is not the most coordinated child. He falls down all the time! He's nervous on the playground and won't play on the big play structures or go down anything but the smallest slides. Covered slides are especially scary. He is very timid and cautious about everything new. He is determined to do things by himself and we are only allowed to help him when he asks for it. When he goes potty, the only person who is allowed to watch is Bethany, who is required to sit in the bathroom doorway and clap for him and flap her arms. Then we are always instructed to say, "Bethany, do you see Emmett doing a big poo-poo? He's so BIG!" Emmett is very good at telling everyone what they should say.

Emmett has grown and changed so much over the last year. I just love being his mom, taking care of him, and watching him learn about and discover the world. He loves picking up ants and potato bugs in the yard, watering plants, chasing birds and collecting bugs in jars. He reminds me constantly of all the wonderful thing about life that I might otherwise forget. As he grows older we still do, and always will, adore him.

Emmett loves being a helper because he knows that helping me cook always involves getting snitches. Here he is helping me with his birthday cake by scraping the frosting off the pan.

Emmett's much anticipated "Bob the Builder" cake.

The suspense over eating the cake and playing with the construction vehicle on top of the cake was almost too much for him to handle.

Emmett had a lot of little friends over for a birthday party. We played outside the entire time and I had activity areas that the kids could come and go at as they pleased. We had bubbles, play dough, paper bag puppets, water table, blocks, balloons, and cookie decorating. I was worried that it still wouldn't be enough, but it ended up just right. We didn't do any coordinated group activities or games because I'm too afraid of trying to corral that many little kids into one organized activity. For my first birthday party, I do feel like it was a success.

We reserved present opening for after all the kids had gone home. I was too afraid of what might happen when all the other three year olds didn't get to open a present of their own! Here's Emmett opening a present from his Grandma and Papa Gasser.

Bethany's birthday present to Emmett (and us) was sleeping through the entire birthday party from start to finish!

After seeing him drool over other kids' train sets, Emmett finally got his own and has been playing with it non stop

Casey got Emmett a scooter and helmet, which Emmett is also loving!

All in all, it was a pretty good birthday. Casey warns me that I'm spoiling him, but honestly, I live to spoil my little monkey. He has me completely wrapped around his finger.