Zeke is THREE!

Ezekiel Dekker, you turn 3 years old today! Before we start, let's do a birthday interview, to make note of some of your favorite things at this point in life.

Favorite food: "I don't know."
Song: "Zacchaeus" 
Color: Blue
Drink: "Umm... this!" (pointing to the ginger ale on the table) This is not going as well as I'd hoped.
Movie: "George and the Elephant" (He watched this for the first time last night.)
Things to do: "Watch a movie. How about... legos! Paint and color."

Here are some of the things you've been doing/learning over the past 6 months.

- You ask for a fork and a spoon at EVERY meal. It doesn't matter if we're having soup, or cereal, or whatever. You need both. Before you can start eating. And then you proceed to eat with your fingers.

You like the fruity concoctions, just like Daddy 

- You pick up on so much of what we're saying! Somedays you pull a brand new word out of nowhere and I have to think really hard as to where you've heard it before :)

Taking your new wagon out for it's maiden voyage! 

- Your favorite show is Curious George. Always, always George. Every night we ask you what you want to watch and you say, "Regular Curious One" because you don't want to watch the Christmas movie, "A Very Monkey Christmas." I'm pretty sure we've watched the tv series all the way through, 6? 7 times?

Your Halloween costume -- Curious George

- You took 2 sessions of Kindermusik class this year. You loved it! You got a harmonica the first semester and a rain stick and jingle bells the second. You like to break out in song every once in a while and sang along to a bunch of Christmas songs with me throughout the season. "Glo-ooooo-ooooo-ooooria!" and "Joy to the WOOOORLD!" Precious, precious music to my ears!

First day back to Kindermusik in the Fall. You kept trying to get me to take a picture of your backpack. 

We made a rainstick 

- You are a loving child. Not that you don't have your moments of crazy and learning to vent your frustrations. But you do like to cuddle (which I obviously very much love!!) and give kisses and hugs. At the Christmas Eve service, I mentioned that we needed to get going, so you started walking around to everyone, even the people you'd never seen before (you were basically looking at pants) and giving them hugs goodbye. So sweet, buddy! And then this morphed into you taking the candles out of their hands and putting them away on the front table. You can be such a big helper, when you want to be!

- One day in December I was making lunch, I heard a "cssshk" sound and looked down to see this:

It was pretty funny to me, so I didn't make you stop :o) 

- We're starting to buy you some 3T pants. The 2Ts still fit around your waist, but you're getting too tall and during these winter months I don't want those little ankles to get cold! I've been having to roll the pants over once in order for them to stay up better, but at least they're long enough.

- We got a pretty good snow over Christmas. You enjoyed playing outside with me shoveling, sweeping, making snow angels, and even riding around a bit in your bright red/orange sled. Although you actually prefer just pulling it around, with no one in it. But that's ok. Still a vast improvement over the past years when you cried when we were out in the snow.

A little snow in New Castle (December 2014)

- You potty trained SO WELL in August! I was pretty nervous about the whole process and instead you totally blew it out of the water! We talked it up for a couple of weeks, then went out together and bought your underwear. The morning of potty training we called several family members and asked them if they wore underwear too. We bagged up all of your diapers and said "bye-bye." Then we changed you into your big boy underwear and went for it! The first day there were lots of accidents; the second day, a few. By the next week you had it down through the day and just a couple of weeks later you stopped wearing pull-ups at night and were wearing underwear exclusively! Sure, there's the occasional accident, but, by golly, you've got this, Son! So proud of you! I keep finding unused pull-ups while we've been unpacking. You didn't even use up one package!

A hike with Daddy at Devil's Backbone 

Devil's Backbone 

Special time with Mommy at Grandpa's Cafe (August 2014) 

September 2014 

Getting brave and climbing the jungle gym

At the top! 

Picking out pumpkins!

- We started doing "special time" with you once a month in August. We know sometimes it can be hard to feel like we're giving Levi more attention since he's so little and needs more help. We wanted to make sure you are feeling loved and valued and heard. You have really enjoyed the times you've shared with Mommy and Daddy!

Special time with Mommy -- making chocolate cupcakes 

Being careful to get the batter in the holes 

- Today (1/19) you caught Levi when he was falling down the stairs. I'm always so paranoid about you pushing him down the stairs, but I heard a bump and a cry and I ran out and there you were halfway down the stairs with Levi in the your arms. I was surprised, for one, because he's only like 5-6 pounds lighter than you. For two, because it was your reaction to help out your little brother. I love that, buddy! I hope that will always be your first response.

Visiting the Fire Station in New Castle

- We are starting to do a little learning time with you every day. We bought you a tracing book for Christmas, so you're learning how to hold your pencil correctly and I've been surprised at how well you're picking up drawing zig-zags and loops. I'm excited to continue teaching you. I'm hoping to get started on some letters and numbers soon. I'm also starting a cooking/baking day with you on Fridays. Last week (1/16) we made One-Eyed Pirates from Daddy's "Kid's Cook" book.

- We've been singing "Happy Birthday" to lots of other people the past 3 months. I think you were excited it was finally your turn! We had a fun birthday party for you and it was a "Construction" theme which I think you enjoyed. You got some paints, paint brushes, and a book, a big dump truck for playing outside, a learning book, tennis shoes, a dj music toy, and a djembe! It was a great party!

Your 3rd Birthday Party (1/24)

Blowing out the candle! 

Zeke, Mommy and Daddy love you so much! You make our days brighter and our nights longer ;) You are getting better at the whole sleeping thing though! You still take a nap every afternoon which is nice. You are an intense little boy and have a good attention span. You enjoy dancing/spinning in the living room and music in general. We look forward to the coming year and all the things you will learn and conquer. You have changed our lives for the better and we are thankful!
Love, Mommy