Nicole and Brandon: Blake - 3.5 years old!

Blakie-boy you are THREE AND A HALF YEARS OLD!!!! How did we get here?!

There are so many things to talk about, I don't know where to begin! You seem to be changing in so many ways lately that I should probably blog every month like I do for Kennedy! (Sorry, I don't have time to do that!) Before our eyes you are turning into a "kid". Long gone are the baby days, and the toddler days are passing by like sand falling through our fingers. So, let's talk about Blake these days!

Mommy and Daddy's favorite quotes from Blake:
-"I'm Dash! And you're Elastigirl mom!" (from the Incredible's.)
-"On your march, get set, go!"
-"Binocweelars" (binoculars)
-No specific quote, but you are a master negotiator. We joke that you're going to grow up to be a hostage negotiator.
-Sees mom and dad kissing in the kitchen, "Awww, you're in looove."
-You can mimic Kennedy's squeals perfectly. It can get annoying, but it's also cute because you think you're communicating with your sister. :)
-Dad asked, "Is that a no?" and you responded, "That is a YES" very emphatically. Needless to say that didn't go over well, but it did cause some muffled laughter from the table. It was during family dinner.
-Dad couldn't find his wallet and when he asked if Blake knew where it was Blake helpfully replied, "yeah, it's in the house." (It was, in fact, in the house.)
-After turning left on a red Blake yells, "Red means STOP mom!"
-"Daddy you say "come on!" a lot."
-For a few months "Nope" and "Yup" were your new responses to everything that used to be "yeah/yes" or "no". Mom- "Blake, did you have fun at daycare today" Blake - "Yup." It sounds so much older. :(
-Apparently you though a stake in one of the cement parking space blocks was a hot dog, haha!
-An airplane flew over while we were playing in the backyard and you yelled, "I LOVE YOU AIRPLANE!" and then you turned to me and whispered, "I love all the airplanes. And the helicopters." It was creepy, but cute, haha!
-There was a bumblebee in the same flowers for a couple of days and you talked to it like it was a baby. It was adorable and hysterical.
-Mommy or daddy ask if you are doing something and your response, "I think I am."
-"ROAR" You roar like a lion a lot. At us. At strangers. Makes no difference to you. Because you're a lion.
-When you need to think before responding you look up in the air and go, "Mmmmm....______" Often times it's, "Mmmmmm, sure!" You always say "sure"in a high pitched tone.
-Whispered during communion, "Grandma, is that Diet Coke?"

Some random pictures to break it up (because there are a LOT of pictures!)

At Uncle Tyler's wedding

Look mom, I can still fit in the Bumbo!

Beach day at daycare!

First time roller skating (skating with Jonathan)

Made at daycare

First dentist appointment...2 year molars aren't all the way through yet!

Favorites:
Movies/TV Shows
Dinotrux - Some rich TV executive was like, let's put dinosaurs and construction trucks in the same show and market it to little boys. Good play, Netflix, good play.

Paw Patrol - You were obsessed with Paw Patrol this summer and have all the toys. Mommy way overpaid to make sure you have Everest and Tracker too. Because we buy you things to show our love for you. (JUST kidding) Lately you go in spurts where you play with them and then you don't for a while.

Blaze and the Monster Machines - You call it Plaze and you love it. Monster trucks that talk.

I think The Incredibles is your current favorite movie. You still love Finding Nemo and Star Wars when daddy let's you watch it (Daddy fast forwards the violent parts). I've also tried introducing some new movies and failed.

Fail #1 - The Land Before Time: Mom thought you would love this movie because it's about dinosaurs. Wrong. I totally forgot how SAD it is.When the Mama dinosaur died you couldn't stop crying and I made you keep watching because I thought it would get happy and be an adventure. Also wrong.You kept crying on and off through the whole thing and when it was done you were a mess. You kept saying (all day), "That was a sad movie, mom." Shortly after the movie finished I told you that you were going to go to grandma's house but that mommy wouldn't be there and you started crying again. :(

Fail #2 - Planes: Another movie I thought you'd like because it's by the maker of Cars. At one point the plane crashes and you were so sad you cried again. He gets put back together ans is all better but you could not get over the fact that he crashed. You were so sad for him.

Fail #3 - Winnie the Pooh, Pooh's Grand Adventure: We didn't finish this one...mommy has learned. First of all, Christopher Robin disappears (we adults realize that he went to school....3 year old's don't get that) so in your mind that is SAD (are you surprised at this point?). But, the real reason I stopped it was because it introduces the idea of scary monsters (in the woods) and you don't really understand that concept yet, and I don't want you to. I don't need you terrified of the dark because of Winnie the Pooh!

Favorite Books
-Cleopatra Bones and the Golden Chimpanzee
-What is Poop?
-The Book with No Pictures
-Star Wars Children's Series
-Dan, the Taxi Man
-Busy Trucks on the Go
-Little Blue Truck's Christmas (in the summer, haha!)
-The Sparky Bible
-Telling the Time
-Planes
-Look Inside: The Airport
-Peek Inside: Dinosaurs

Favorite Songs
ABCs
Baby Bumblebee
Monkey's jumping on the bed
Ring around the Rosie
The Lord's Army
Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes
The B-I-B-L-E
Only a Boy Named David
Peter, James, and John in a Sailboat
Star Wars Songs
Dinotrux theme song

Favorite Food (if I'm being honest)
Candy
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Macaroni and Cheese
Ice cream
Fruit (Blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, bananas)
Yogurt
Finger Jello
Cookies
Cereal

Favorite Toys/Activities
-Star Wars toys and figures. We are so lucky daddy saved all of his toys from when he was young.
-Paw Patrol toys and pups
-Construction Trucks. Your current favorites are cement truck, garbage truck, and dump truck.
-Playing in the backyard. We pretend the playset is an airplane and you are the pilot. Then you fly us to different planets and we look at the dinosaurs, or trudge through the snow, or visit planets where everything is purple or orange, or we visit the zoo animals. We use our imaginations. :)
-Sticker books
-Reading books with mom and dad
-Playing on (both) Grandmas' iPads
-Watching your TV shows
-Going for walks and going to the park
-Going to the zoo
-Going to (either) Grandma's house
-Playing with chalk
-Helping mom and dad with things
-Picking food from the garden
-Looking at pictures. You saw a picture of daddy as a baby and said it was you! Haha!
-"Silly faces" with mom. We use the Facebook filters to make ourselves look funny on the screen.

Gymnastics recital for Baby Bears class...sitting by your friend Aiden

Your teacher's name was Miss Leah

You got to sit by Grandma while she played in church one Sunday!

You matched your friend so well at church one Sunday, mommy had to take a picture!

First movie in the theater - The Incredibles 2 - with daddy. You left about 20 min. early because it scared you a little bit.

Excited about your new books!

You and Jonathan :)

First Eye doctor appointment (no concerns...it was just free, so why not?)

This picture cracks me up!

Other things...
-You got your first bike! It has training wheels and you really like it. You're doing pretty well figuring it out too. We weren't sure how you'd do since you don't like to play or ride other scooters, big wheels, etc.
-You are still in gymnastics and you still love it. We decided to do a full year before trying a sport. We've seen great improvement in your motor skills (running, jumping, etc.) since you started so it's definitely been worth it. You were very proud the first time you did a correct 'seat drop' on the trampoline!
-I don't know if this was in your last post or not, but you are completely potty trained. You've been daytime potty trained for over a year but were wearing diapers to bed for a little while. You quit wearing the diapers to bed this summer.
-You LOVE Kennedy! You love to make her laugh and squeal and shriek! You are also exceptionally good at mimicking her and matching her high pitches. Mommy and Daddy could use some ear plugs every now and then.
-You went to the dentist for the first time and did great! The dentist noted that your back molars (2 year molars I think) were not all of the way through yet. I'm not surprised since you were a late teether. You enjoyed picking a prize out of the prize machine when you were done.
-Your memory is astounding. You don't forget anything. If we say you're going to get a spanking when we get home, you remind us when we are home. If we say (in the summer let's say) that it will be Christmastime when it snows....then you ask every day if it's going to snow yet. Lesson learned. (Update: It's snowing and it's not Christmas day....mommy did not think this through all of the way)
-You still walk on your tip toes. We've had the doctor check your feet almost every time you see him and there is nothing wrong. He says it's probably just a habit. Or maybe you do it just to irritate mommy. (kidding, again....kind of)
-When I put Kennedy to bed (usually a few minutes after daddy puts you to bed) you always see the stairwell light come on and start yelling "MOOOOOM, come sing me the ABCs! MOOOOOOOOOOM" over and over until I come in. I usually sing to you, because I love you. :)
-Your favorite color is purple.
-You wear size 3T and 4T. All of your shirts are 4T because you have a long torso, and your pants are either 3T pants or 4T pants rolled up a little.
-We went on family vacation with Grandma and Grandpa, Tyler and Shannon, and had a blast! You did FANTASTIC in the car (which is saying something because it was a whole day in the car)! Mommy packed you a huge box of stuff to do and you played with NONE of it. You are content just listening to music, looking out the window, and talking to mommy and daddy. You also slept for a couple of hours. On the trip you did really well too! Naps are always thrown off on vacation and you pretty much skipped nap almost every day. You got a little rowdy on and off because you were tired, but overall I think you had a lot of fun. I was definitely thankful for our double stroller! We asked you what your favorite part of vacation was and you said the zoo and the warplane museum. You got to sit inside a real airplane; talk about fun! Now you keep asking when we get to go on vacation again. :)

I had a lot more on here but it was erased. :( :( Since I'm posting this a couple of months late I am sure I forgot a few of the things I originally had posted about. Sorry dude.

We love you SO much, Blake! Here are the rest of the pictures from the last 6 months, including our family vacation: