Happy 3rd Birthday, Evan!!

My handsome little guy turned 3 this week!  And so I guess he's officially a preschooler.  Gone are the toddler days as we cautiously enter the preschool age.  While for some, they refer to the challenging age as the terrible two's, we have found with Sean and already with Evan, that it's more like the terrible three's in our household.  Evan must have known it was time to turn that on.  A week before his birthday, the sass started!  Ahhh!!

I mean, already at three we have a guy who prefers to cruise the streets on his motorcycle, strum his guitar all day long, and sulk like no other.  I fear his teenage years.

His interest in music goes beyond guitars.  He loves playing my piano.  Sometimes he can get a little rough on the keys, so I invested in this adorable kitty keyboard to hold his interest and deter him from jamming on my piano.

And a mat that he can jump on that plays different sounds and songs.  And a book that he can press sounds to go along with the story.  Alright, you get it.  The kid loves music!

Despite his interests right now suggesting he'll be a "bad boy", he can turn on the charm and make you laugh at the same time!  In fact, he made his doctor laugh several times yesterday at his well visit.  He wouldn't stop talking and telling her about all of his presents.  After telling her to "fist bump" like Baymax, she reassured us that he's a healthy, happy, growing little boy - with quite the personality!  We couldn't agree more!

We knew a trip to the Disney Store would be on the agenda for part of his birthday celebrations.  He could watch "Old Fashioned Mickey" all day and be content.  He's also a Jake and the Neverland Pirates fan!  So, we took him hoping to get to unlock the door that day, only to find a huge line.  Apparently the first Tuesday of each month is Special Edition Tsum Tsum day (confession:  I had no idea what a Tsum Tsum even was, but I stood in the line anyway).  Low and behold it ended up being The Nightmare Before Christmas as the special release that day!  So, our trip ended up still working out.  We got 5 adorable Tsum Tsum's from his favorite movie, he got a birthday song and pin from the cast members at the store, and a special lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.

Aside from The Nightmare Before Christmas (he's going to be Jack Skellington for Halloween) being his absolute favorite, he also loves anything Disney - Finding Nemo, Mickey and Friends, Big Hero 6, Aladdin, etc.  He loves reading books from the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" author, Clifford books, and of course, Dragons Love Tacos.

Speaking of tacos, they are Evan's favorite food right now!  Shocking, right?  He is sooo incredibly picky, but will always eat a soft taco, a crunchy taco, or one of my famous oven tacos (where I sneak in refried beans, tomato sauce, and diced chili peppers).  Other than that, it's a crap shoot on what he'll eat.  Some days are better than others.  Safe bets are always any fruit, carrots, broccoli, yogurt, a granola bar, or breakfast foods like waffles, pancakes or eggs.  Considering he's capable of eating one meal really well and the rest he'll pick at, he weighed in at 30 lbs. yesterday at his well visit.  And 36.5"!  So, he's growing!

He's also growing academically!  We worked hard this summer on really nailing down those colors.  And he rocked his little assessment yesterday on them at his well visit.  Got every question right!  He can count to 20 (missing a few in the teens here and there), he's starting to draw things that are recognizable like people, he's starting to identify letters, and can spell his name!  It helped having the summer off to work on those things with him.  Although, I'm sure he would have been learning that at school too.  We're proud of where he's at and we have no doubt in our minds that he'll rock in his new preschool class this fall!

I was feeling a little guilty that we weren't doing birthday parties this year for the boys.  It was the first year we didn't have one for Evan and we aren't having one for Sean either.  But, I was amazed at how much we made his birthday week just as fun and exciting as having a party!  We did dinner (oven tacos of course!) and cake with my parents last Saturday.

I took the boys to the mall on Tuesday (my last day before I had to report back to work) for the Disney Store and lunch.  I think they had a blast!

Later that evening we met up with Scott's family at Chuck E. Cheese in Novi for a joint birthday dinner for Evan and his aunt Mindy.  The boys absolutely loved playing the games and riding on the little rides!  It was a great evening spent with family!

Finally, on Wednesday, his actual birthday, we did homemade ice cream cake and presents after dinner out at Leo's and Sean's open house at his new school.  The ice cream cake was a huge hit with everyone (a rarity)!

Happy 3rd birthday, to my big Ev-bug!  We are so blessed and so proud to watch you grow into the little boy that you've become!  We love you more than you can ever know!