Three is the magic number. You’ve been telling people for months now that you’re three (and once, on the bus, you told a lady that you were 42…!), but actually, today, you magically are three. Or at least it feels slightly magical! How is it that you’ve been in our lives for three whole years already?! Where have those three years vanished to?! And although there are many a day when your energy knows no bounds, when we know we are not being good enough for you, when we all get a bit crosser than we’d like to be, we have also had three whole years which have been filled by your cheekiness, your gorgeous blue eyes complete with cute birthmark on that chubby cheek, your eccentric little character and so much laughter that you’ve brought our way.
Three is the magic number. This past year, something that we’re yet again so proud of is your speech. You can now basically speak like a proper little human being, with very little that you can’t make clear to us. Your vocab astounds us daily, and you often make us laugh with some of the little turns of phrase you come out with! Part of me is sad for this coming year, as I know – judging by how far you’ve come already on the speech front – that as you approach four, you will more than likely have lost lots of your ‘baby’ speech ways and will have moved onto full on child speech.
Three is the magic number when I see your kindness shine through. I have always said that above all else, I want you to grow up to be kind. And – I hope – we’re already starting to see the rewards of this strategy. You recently showed me your kindness at football training, when you went to offer one of the older boys who was waiting on the sideline for his class to start your football, because you thought he didn’t have one. My heart was fit to burst with pride! Just this week you broke off a bit of the birthday cake you’ve been waiting a whole year for at our Monday baby group to give to your little friend, as she was sad that it wasn’t her birthday. And I love that you will try your best to comfort others, telling us not to worry as “[Baby Lighty] is here” if we’re scared, or telling me not to cry. I also know that you’ve seen me cry far too much in recent months, but I’m going to work hard on rectifying that, I promise you.
Three is the magic number, especially as, in a weird way, I feel like I’ve got to know your personality so much more this past year. I know instinctively what you’ll like and won’t like, how you’ll react to something, what frightens you and what will excite you. I feel like I have far more mother’s instinct now than I ever did when you were a newborn. I knew, for example, that at Christmas you’d be much more excited by a toy mixer for your kitchen than a car garage. I need to listen to my heart – and your passions – and not bow to stereotypes.
Three is the magic number when it comes to your eccentricity. Your imagination knows no bounds at the moment, and I love encouraging that and seeing you learn through play. You are quite the little showman, and we have many a happy moment watching you sing and dance. I know that perhaps eccentric is not the right word, that perhaps it’ll be frowned upon to call my own son eccentric, but I do not see this as a bad thing. Being your own person is something to be proud of, and I hope you’ll continue to be you as you grow older.
Three is most definitely the magic number when it comes to your stubbornness! I am not looking forward to these threenager years, that’s for sure! You can hold your ground along with the best of them, and there are definitely days when your hearing is selective! And three is also knowing that I have absolutely no idea where you get this from, of course…!
I’ve recently come to notice that three is the magic number for you when it comes to family. Mummy, Daddy and you. We had a conversation about nicknames recently, and you told me that yours for me are “Mummy-doodles, cuddles and kisses”. You often make comments about your stuffed toys, or the cats we saw on holiday, needing to find their Mummy, and I think this is a reflection of how much your life revolves around our little family unit at the moment. How you feel that everyone needs their Mummy and Daddy. I hope it’s because it’s your safe place, and I also hope that this shows that I’m not doing too bad a job overall.
Three is knowing that this year, I need to do better. You’ve not had the best of us over this past year, and I’ll try hard to make sure that some of the magic of three is getting well and giving you a better childhood via happier parents.
Three is the magic number. Have a magical third birthday, baby boy!
Lots of love as always gorgeous boy, Mummy xxx
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