My funny little Swee'Pea...

I haven't updated this blog in months, nor have I updated on Swee'Pea in (gasp) a whole year.  So I figured I'd get on the ball with this blogging thing (see Katy, I promised I'd blog SOME POINT this year...) and give you an update on our lives, our family, and our precious baby toddler big boy, Swee'Pea.

My darling Swee'Pea, at 3 1/2...

... okay.  Almost four (cringe).

You are incredibly silly.  You love making faces, telling jokes, and pretending you are any assortment of wild or exotic animals.  You daily pretend that daddy is a crocodile, that you are a cowboy, or that there are monsters under the bed.  Your creativity amazes me and I try to encourage it as much as I can.

You prefer playing outside to inside, and could ride your bike for hours upon hours around the block.  Every day you beg to go to the park or go for a run in the stroller.  You've even taken up running with mommy and doing workouts with daddy.  Last week you did an entire 30-minute Kettle Bell workout with daddy, only stopping a few times for water breaks.  Your determination to keep up with your daddy and me inspires me to keep up a healthy lifestyle, and I am quite positive we have  a little mini-marathoner on our hands.

You are incredibly, incredibly inquisitive.  The "why? why?? WHY!?" stage is upon us in full force.  And with answer comes 10,000 more questions that require even more extensive answers.  You are never fully satisfied with our answers.  Never.

You have the memory of an elephant.  At any moment you can remember where you went and who you went with and how you got there.  And not just recent things.  Things that happened months and even a year or more ago.  It is slightly freakish.

You still present a battle at almost every meal time.  You adore oatmeal and yogurt and muffins and fruit and snack foods.  You detest all vegetables and most meats.

You vastly prefer your daddy to mommy.  Until it is bedtime.  Then you prefer mommy.  Because mommy is the bedtime pushover.

You are my little helper.  You feed Pete the Cat, you measure and mix for me when we are baking or making dinner, you plant and pull weeds in the garden, and you recently learned how to help fold laundry and make the beds.  I'm really hoping to work on working out a system of chores and allowance for you this summer because I think it will be an excellent lesson in working and saving and giving and tithing.

You are incredibly stubborn.  Everything is "I do it myself!"  You dress yourself.  You brush your own teeth.  You (attempt) to make your own peanut butter sandwiches.  You insist on helping me in the kitchen.  Which is lovely.  And I adore your independent spirit.  In lots of ways it is such a blessing and I've always encouraged you to do and seek and learn and grow.  But at the same time, it is incredibly humbling.  You don't want to listen to mommy.  I've always planned and hoped to homeschool you.  But I'm increasingly realizing that between both of our personalities, that may not be the best option.  My daily prayer is that God would not only provide me with the guidance to raise you as my stubborn little boy, but also guidance in what is best for both of us when it comes to your education.

You are fearless.  Fearless to the point that you are going to give me a heart attack before the age of 30.  Fearless to the point that you are covered in bruises and bumps and road burns.  Fearless to the point that you have very little of your top two teeth left.  Utterly and impossibly fearless.

Grandma Turbo is your best friend.
Cousin Henry comes in at a close second.

Your biggest struggle right now is to obey the first time, especially when it comes to sharing.  Oh, how you struggle with this my little man.  We are working, working, working to get you to understand how to share and why we share and to have a heart that desires to share.  But when it comes right down to it we continue to struggle with this area and it is a battle we are facing each and every day to parent you in the right (although exhaustingly difficult) way.

You despise time outs.

Things I hear come out of your mouth on a regular basis:
"Actually, this is how you do it."
"Okay, in five minutes mom."
"You're driving me crazy."
"No, I don't think so."
"Do I like ____________ (insert a vegetable, meat, food item here)?  Did I eat it as a baby?"
"No."

You love Jesus.  You love to tell me how he died on the cross to take away your sins.  You love to tell me how he created the birds and the bees and everything around you.  You love to sing your songs from church and repeat the stories that "Shout it Out" Sean tells you on Sundays.  It warms my heart and makes me praise the Lord for giving you a heart open to the Savior.

You challenge and bend me in more ways than I could have ever imagined.  Parenting you has been the most humbling experience of my life.  I've been forced to challenge myself on a daily basis, to make the hard choices, and to change the ugliness in me so that it doesn't manifest itself in you.  I've been stretched and broken and on my knees in prayer to the Lord in my desire to be a better person so I could be a better mama for you.  But it has also been the greatest joy of my life.  I never knew how vast and deep my love for another person could be until I became your mama.  You are my delight.

Dearest Swee'Pea, you are your mommy and daddy's love and joy!
My cup runneth over with love for you.