Three

It is said that good things (and bad things for that matter) come in three’s.  And if you excuse the terrible three temper tantrums, whining and emotional volatility associated with being three, it certainly is a wonderful age to be!

Since turning three, I have watched Alex blossom from a baby into a little boy. Big enough to speak properly, go to the toilet by himself and dress himself; but still little enough to want hugs, cuddles and kisses from mommy to make boo-boos feel better. Sometimes I have to stop myself from getting sad, when I think about how, one day, my little boy will become a sulky teenager who thinks I am very un-cool. And I sometimes do a double-take, when I see a little boy in the place of my once tiny baby.

And what a delightful little boy he has become.

Three things about my boy:

Alex loves speed… He approaches everything he does with huge enthusiasm, and runs (instead of walking) everywhere. You will often find him zooming around on his super-fast green Y-bike, feet up in the air as he races down the drive-way. He loves cars and trains of all shapes and sizes, and will happily sit and play with his cars, or his railway by himself for ages, engrossed in his imagination. Most of the time, the cars and trains are racing! Needless to say, one of his favourite movies is Disney’s CARS, and he often recites lines from movie during his imaginary games. A while ago, he was playing outside on his bike with the dogs, and I heard him say to one of my German shepherds: “Pit-stop Fangio! but no-no-no tyres, only fuel!”

Alex loves to read… He loves listening to stories, and loves telling us his own made-up ones (encouraged by his father’s great sense of imagination). He loves his picture books by Julia Donaldson, such as The Gruffalo, The Smartest Giant in Town, etc, his current favourites being A Squash and a Squeeze and The Princess and the Wizard.  He loves Dr. Seuss, and can practically recite The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. He has loved books since he was a tiny baby, and we would spend hours looking at picture books again and again (and again and again and again!) He has a very inquiring mind, and every sentence at the moment starts with Why, What or How. He has a great vocabulary as a result of being read to.  A few months after his second birthday, we went to the aquarium for the first time, and he loved it so much that we bought him a book on Ocean Life, and he was able to name every single creature in the book (of about 70), even the obscure ones such as Coelacanths, Anemones (correctly pronounced) and Mantis Shrimps. (Our friends thought it amazing that this little boy could recite the names of all the creatures in the book, distinguishing between Sperm Whales and Humpback Whales etc, and not just calling them Whales!)

Alex loves playing outside … He loves riding his bike, jumping on the trampoline, climbing the jungle gym and rushing down the slide on his tummy. He loves rolling on the grass, and exploring the (imaginary) jungle in the corner of the garden with his Daddy, where they spot leopards and tigers and toucans and all sorts of imaginary creatures. He loves chasing the dogs, and running through the flower beds and getting covered in mud. He loves picking flowers for me, and collecting all sorts of berries, stones and twigs and others treasures that he finds in the garden. And he loves to swim!

Sometimes I wish I could freeze time, just a little bit, to have three for a just little bit longer.