Pax (almost 3 1/2)

In about 6 more weeks, my little guy will be 3 1/2. What a blessing Pax is to our family. And I want to try and sum him up for you in a little post. He is generally a happy boy and easy going. If you met him, he would probably be shy and stick close to me. He loves me a lot. :) Believe me, it's mutual. He is STILL a momma's boy. He often verbalizes his feelings and thoughts, which is so much like myself and very much not like his father. If I say "Pax, I'm so happy to be your mommy." He will probably respond with "Mommy, I'm so happy to be your Paxton." That conversation has actually happened more than once. Man, he's sweet. I love that he shares his heart so openly with those that are close to him. I hope his openess continues as he gets older. He is also very affectionate. He wants to sit close if not completely in your lap. He loves to snuggle, hug and be as close as possible. 97% of the time I'm thrilled with this. The other 3% of the time, I need some extra room to breathe. But this really is a quality of his personality that I enjoy and soak up.

At this age, he has definitely warmed up to the regulars in our lives. He walks confidently into his classroom at Mother's Day Out each week. I usually have to remind him to give me a kiss and hug as I drop him off. He loves our friends that we spend time with regularly. He will normally show off his very silly side to these people. When I pick him up from his church class on Sundays, I often find him snuggled into Mr. Ben's lap. Sometimes they're reading and sometimes they're having a tickle fest. He is somewhat head over heels for his teachers this year. They've done something quite special to make a precious connection with my little boy.

He was totally into Dance Central 4 with our church cell group. And so was his daddy. :)

He's a little slow moving. Never in a hurry for much of anything. Unless he's about to wet his pants, then you can really see him run.
Several times during our day, Jeremy and I look at one another and laugh. That is because he is hilarious. Hilarious, I tell you! I think his humor began before he knew it and understood. The things he said were funny, but he didn't intend them to be. And now he is purposefully the comic around here.

He has always been a great eater. He rarely complains when his plate is set in front of him. He just gobbles up whatever is on the menu for that day. He loves veggies and often asks for seconds. Sometimes this includes plain leaves of lettuce. He just crunches on plain lettuce. He's a dream eater for me! His top favorites foods are: pears, grapes, oranges (the little cuties are his fave), bananas, carrots, corn, peas, lima beans, waffles, homemade granola, yogurt, grilled chicken, cheeseburgers and peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches.
He loves to sing along to his musical toys, to music as we ride in the car and to new songs he has learned. He loves to sing and does it often for us. It's cute. He's also obsessed with pretending to play the guitar. He likes to strum his belly as if he's holding on in his arms. We have a drummer and guitarist/singer in this house, so far.

Some of his favorite past times include books and balls. I know I've talked over and over about the boys love of reading. I think Pax's desire to snuggle plays into the part of him that just wants to bring over a big pile of 10 (sometimes lengthy) books and read one after another, after another, after another. Until my voice starts to crack from talking so much. ;) He loves books. I think if he was going to be stranded on a desert island and could only take 1 thing, he would attempt to take his entire library of books. He also loves balls and any kind of sport. If he's outside in the backyard, he is usually holding a golf club or baseball bat. He loves to play catch and has an amazing arm when he throws. We're still working on the catching. That's about 50/50. At this point, he'd make a much better pitcher than catcher.

Each Wednesday, after BSF, Pax can tell me all about his Bible story and what he learned. It's amazing. He is a very good listener. He understands and even more amazing he can often apply it in his own life. One particular week they learned about being peacemakers, like Abraham. Holden was doing something to purposefully irritate Pax on our drive home that day. Through tears, Pax said, "Holden is not being a peacemaker!" And we were able to have a little talk about how to be a peacemaker and why that is important. I was just amazed by his application of the lesson. So I mentioned he was a great listener, but sometimes not the best listener at home. In fact, I asked the doctor when he turned 3 about an ear test. And after a little further conversation with the doctor, he sort of laughed at me and pointed out that his hearing was fine. I think I already knew that. He chooses to ignore us on occassion. We've been working on it and it's getting better.

The past few months have been the most challenging in parenting and disciplining Pax. He's gotten a little sassy in his 3s. But he doesn't know what a breeze he is compared to someone else we know that was once 3. For the most part, he's just easy.
He's our pretender. He has a great imagination that we continually get to see at work. He loves to cook meals. Fight the bad guys. And make up just about any crazy story to have a little fun. I love his creativity.

Playing on a pretend laptop (it was really a book). Not sure where he picked this up from because we don't even own a laptop.

We are trying to prepare him for a baby sibling...even though we may not feel any closer to another adoption, we do feel like more babies are in our future. Hopefully near future. Yesterday, he told me he wanted a baby brother and we should name him TuTu. That is silly Pax for you. I would completely embrace and even be giddy for a 3rd baby boy. But I assure you that he would not be named TuTu. So sorry Pax-man. Even in my attempts to prepare him, I wonder (and maybe worry a little) how that will go. I just wonder how Pax will adjust to a new baby and becoming a big brother. Which is kind of funny. He's almost 3 1/2. Holden was almost 16 months and I didn't worry much  about his transition when Pax joined us. But Pax has been the baby of the family for a while now. So I just wonder about it. But I also know that I will work extra hard to make each of my kids feel very special and very loved.

And in a nutshell, that is our Pax. He's so so sweet, if you didn't already pick up on that. He's a happy, smiling face that I see each morning. And very tight hug around my neck and kiss on the lips at nighttime (and many times in between). Our little Pax is a precious gift and it's pure joy to spend my days with him.