Our little Holden turned 3 years old last week.  It’s just incredible.  Holden has developed into a sensitive, talkative, daring, and above all, HILARIOUS, little guy.  I would say that Holden’s sense of humor is his most defining attribute, at this point.  He “gets” double entendres, puns, and other more subtle forms of humor.  He laughs often, imitates other people’s voices, and enjoys playing “jokes” on people.  At the same time, he can be very intent on doing something, devoting all of his concentration and energy on a goal.  Despite being a bit of a silly joker, he still gets very frustrated if things don’t go according to his expectations, or if he isn’t able to do something as well as he would like.  He has become an interesting combination of perseverance, hilarity, and intense contemplation.  He is dynamic, and I LOVE him.  He is the greatest gift I could ever have been granted.

What is he up to these days?  Well, for starters, he talks non-stop.  All day long.  In his chatter, I often hear imaginary conflicts unfold among the characters in his apocryphal childhood drama, punctuated by a stream of vehicular utterances.  He is a storyteller.

He also understands that text represents words, and he’s beginning to show interest in learning how to read.  He still loves books, as he always has, and now he is learning that letters encode sounds, and that individual sounds create words when put together.  He’s learned how to spell a few words, even!  It’s amazing!  (Sometime, ask me about the R-rated reason that he learned to spell “kitty”).  He’s potty-trained (95% of the time) and he sleeps through the night (75% of the time):)  His favorite toy is still his wooden train set, even after an entire year of nearly round-the-clock use.  He loves animals, carpentry tools, gardening, painting, girls (yikes!), hiking, and making fun of me when I run on the treadmill.  He yells at the cat for being too close to his toys, but shares well with other kids.

He whines a lot sometimes.

He is a snuggler, and I still lay with him in his bed for 5 minutes every night as he drifts off to sleep.  He usually clutches my hand, squeezes it, and smiles back at me.  I kiss him on the forehead and tell him I love him.  He replies “I love you, too.”  Then I close the door, walk down the hallway, and think about how lucky and exhausted I am.  Lucky and exhausted.  The paradigmatic mother.

Here’s some time-lapse Holden:

June 22, 2008

June 22, 2009

June 22, 2010

June 22, 2011