3 is Such an Enjoyable Age!

I remember when Big Guy was this age and he loved to write. Still does. He wanted me to teach him how to write his alphabet letters. And he was persistent. He would bring me a pen and paper and say, "Mom will you write A?" I would write A, and he would copy it down next to mine. And then I would write B and he would copy that. And so on, sometimes all the way to Z. Almost every day for a good year he did that, until he could write each letter on his own, and well! I remember taking him on the plane right before he was to turn 4 and he was writing his letters. We were on one of those Southwest planes sitting in the seats that face each other and the woman across from us was commenting on how well formed his letters were. When I told her he was 3 she was blown away. Apparently she worked with 3 and and even some 4 year olds and hadn't seen anything like that.

Now that Little Guy is at that age I realize what a truly intriguing age it is. They want to learn everything so badly. He has been continuouly asking to help - help put the laundry away, help pick up toys, help set up things, help cook, help throw away the trash, help wipe down the shower window. The things he asks to do and can do amazes me. And if I take the time to teach him it's amazing how well he learns.

Little Guy is not into writing as Big Guy is, but he loves to work with his hands. He can pull stickers off a page like no other, and if you think about that being done with tiny little hands it's quite a feat. He has been doing that since he was 1 and a half or so and it's always amazed me. Now he's finding stickers for his sticker book. There will be a certain shape we're looking for, a certain kind of object or animal, and we will turn to the page of stickers and his little finger will be pointing to it before my eyes have found it. Since his birthday at the end of November we have filled up one sticker book and are working on the next. He loves it. That toy I mentioned earlier? He ROCKS at it. He's gone through cards 1-8 and takes his little tiles out of the tray and puts them back in it over and over.

Today he put away his own little tiny socks and underwear and pajamas. Then he helped me set up his race track Grandma gave him for Christmas, and we sat and played with it for about an hour. His ability and his willingness and his desire to learn has me completely fascinated.

I have decided that this is my favorite age. So far! Babies are adorable and irresistibly cute. They cuddle, drool, eat, poop, sleep, giggle and smile - and while that's all fun, it's amazing when they learn to become actual little people. Walking, talking, little people. It becomes apparent at 1 when they start to walk and say a few words, understand more and even do a few things. 2 is fun because they are just so adorable you want to squeeze them, they are this little tiny person that doesn't really know how to do much at all, but really wants to and tries so hard. There's no attitude, my Mom says it's the trainable two's and I've always stuck by that - just lots of action. Adorable, want to eat them action.

At 3 they turn into those little people you always were afraid to see because then you realize how fast they are actually growing up. But if you stop and realize that they are turning into the person that they will one day become you realize there is so much opportunity and enjoyment to be had. It's an amazing, fascinating, all consuming, wonderful age and I'm enjoying every second of it.