Jaxon is 3!!

What a fun time we had celebrating you today!!

You were very excited to see the streamers and balloons set up for you.

and even more thrilled at the wrapped gifts you saw sitting before you:)

A puzzle that is Veggie Tales--what could be better;)?!?!?!

Yummy cupcake batter pancakes!

His new bike helmet

to wear while riding his new bikes

That evening we had his birthday/our anniversary dinner at Lee's Grilled Cheese. Jaxon loves grilled cheese and we hadn't ever been so we thought it would be interesting to try. 

Jaxon Elliot!

Oh, how you make life so much fun:). At your 3 year checkup you weighed

33 pounds and were 37 inches tall. 

 This past year has been a blast and full of surprises. You have grown up so much and it has been very bittersweet for me. I love watching you learn and grow, but I love my babies too. You are okay with me still calling you my baby, right?! :) In fact you told Dede, "It makes momma sad that Madelyn and I are getting bigger." Glad you are listening and soaking up what is being said;). 

You have gone from saying 2-3 word sentences to a full blown vocabulary and still shock us with some of the things that you say. "I working so hard, like construction workers." (said while putting together a puzzle)

You went from diapers to being potty trained (day & night). What a wild ride that was!! We had a few minor incidents (that didn't seem so minor at the time), but are so proud of how you have done. 

You have become a big brother, and a pretty great one at that! You LOVE your little sister so much and are so gentle and sweet with her. Really, we couldn't have asked for more in how you have treated her. Pretty sure some of your friends have made her cry more than you have-ha! (all by a little too much (tough) love) You are always wanting to help her and make sure she has plenty of toys at her reach. One is never enough--Ten is never enough;). You are very good and expressing your love for her and to her. You are a pro at repeating things to her that you hear me say. It's pretty funny to listen to. "Is that the truth, baby grill?" "We are almost home, Madelyn. Don't go to sleep yet! Momma will put you in your bed when we get home." Don't know where you come up with these sayings;).

You have such a gentle and sweet spirit. You are not an aggressive little boy (unless you are around someone a long time that likes to take your toys), but have gotten very good and using your words when something is wrong. It is hard for me to back off and watch, but I try to remind you to use your words without interfering too much. I am sure you would handle it better if I would just leave you alone and let you take care of it;). I love watching you play with your friends. You and Wyatt play so well together and will have the cutest conversations. It's so fun to listen to:). Speaking of friends, Graham moved to Africa about a month ago. You have missed him for sure and ask fairly often for me to show you where Graham is on your globe. We are hoping to skype with him soon!

You are a very shy little boy! Especially with people that you just met or don't know. It is definitely take some getting used to, but I am learning to embrace this part of your personality. I LOVE how you don't have to be the center of attention. Sounds weird, but your daddy and I don't like to be the center of attention and I appreciate that about you as well. I have a hard time when parent's push their kids to perform or show off and I just like that you absolutely do not want to do that;). We are working on being polite and saying "hello" when we meet someone new. It is taking some time, but it will come.

One of your absolute favorite things to do is sing and dance. You always want music to be playing in the background--especially when you play alone in your room. You love to bang on the drums, play the guitar, and sing into your microphone (or nail from your toolbox). We have started taking you into the worship part of our church service because you love it. You will sing the songs you hear all week long. That has led to a lot of new music downloads and your momma really listening to the words of songs. I am amazed at how fast you pick up on the words in songs. 

As from day one, you are a mover. Over the past year, one of your favorite forms of movement has been jumping. So much jumping in fact that we bought you a trampoline for Christmas. I have to ask you throughout the day, "Jaxon, where do we jump?" "On the trampoline" I do this more because I am afraid you are going to hurt yourself or someone else with all your wild moves. Along with jumping comes running. Oh, how you run, run, and run some more. It's really funny to watch you when you take off running fast. You pump your left arm only as you start. It's pretty humorous to watch, and pretty cute too!! I do love your energy and would appreciate it if you would share some with me. 

Your nap situation over the past year have been interesting. You have gone from taking 1.5 hour naps, to no naps, to 2.5 hour naps, to napping just every few days, to recently no naps. Well, I kind of took your nap away. You were sleeping 2-2.5 hours during the day and then not going to sleep until 10:00 or 10:30. So, I decided to give you rest time and you are asleep within a few minutes of putting you down at night. At rest time you read books or play quiet games on your bed. You stay on your bed during rest time, but are allowed to get up to go to the bathroom. I am in the process of making you some quiet time tubs for you to have different activities each day during rest time.

You love your daddy and your monkey. When you get sad, are really sleepy, or are in trouble for something, you ask "can daddy hold me" or "I need my monkey." It is really sweet and I am glad you have something to comfort you. You also go to your thumb, but have gotten so much better;). Your dentist says not to worry too much about it now, but we do our best to only let you suck your thumb when you go to sleep. And you are so sweet about it. "momma, can I suck my thumb?" and have also gotten sneaky. While we are driving in the car, "Momma, I am gonna take a nap. Can I suck my thumb? Wake me up when you get there!" You know that you are only supposed to suck your thumb when you are going to sleep, so you try to let us know that is what you are doing;). Pretty clever, little boy.

You love to play with your cars, legos (building zoos), blocks (building castles), puzzles and animals. Your favorite book to "read" right now is a Spanish word book I had from my classroom. You use it as a seek and find. And when someone reads you the spanish word you say, "no, that's a ____." You are not a huge fan of coloring, but will tolerate it for a bit. 

Some funny things you have said, "momma, your best my friend," "Goodnight, M's," I'm so proud of you," "look at my curlies," "everybody likes my curls." It is so fun to hear your sentences and words.

You eat really well. Your favorite things are pizza, apples, mangoes, rice, pancakes, pasta, cheese, and any kid of cracker or bread. You enjoy most anything that is sweet, although a lot of chocolate is not your favorite. I think M's will always be a favorite of yours. You have an eye for them and can spot them pretty much from anywhere:). You also like variety in your food--just like your momma;)!!

 You are so SILLY. In fact, so much so, that we have to remind you that there are times when we can be silly, but not all the time:). You keep us laughing all the time and remind that it is okay to be silly and have fun. Your favorite thing to do while taking a picture is make a silly face. It has actually come in handy because we can say, serious face first, then a silly face. And looking through recent pictures, you have made lots of silly faces. One of the funniest things you do is when the 4 of us are driving. You tell one of us to play the drums, one of us to play the piano, and you play the guitar. And then you yell really loudly, "Madelyn, sing with us." It is so funny to me--every time. I love that you want her involved in everything we do. 

Jaxon, 

While you keep us on our toes, you bring so much fun and joy to our lives. You have taught us so much in your short little life: patience, unconditional love, forgiveness, how to have fun in any circumstance, compassion, curiosity, what it means to trust someone, what it means to have hope and faith. You help us understand the phrase, "faith like a child." Buddy boy, we love you so much. Thank you for being you. We have enjoyed watching you grow into a precious little boy and are excited to see how God is going to use your life for His Glory.

Love you,

Momma & Daddy