Jayden's 3rd Birthday

My little boy is growing up and I’m not sure I know where the time is going. Jayden is so smart and like a sponge. He remembers everything. And whoever said that kids are watching you even when you don’t think they are wasn’t lying. Jayden is a mini-me. He mimics practically everything I do and say. When he was little, I used to make exaggerated facial expressions or have dramatic reactions to teach him things like happy, sad, mad, and disappointed. Now, I look at him and want to laugh when he mimics me. If I laugh at a joke, he laughs too. If he’s mad, he furrows his eyebrows and pouts his lips. If he wants candy and I said no, he hangs his head, dangles his arms, and slowly walks away. Sometimes I can’t help but to snatch him up, hug him and kiss him.

Jayden loves helping anybody do anything. He loves being with Daddy out in the garage or in the yard. He loves sticks, rocks and leaves. He loves to be out and about and gets very distressed when we are going back home. “No home mommy, no home.” Jayden loves his vitamins. He thinks they are candy and every morning he asks me “Medicine?” His favorite cartoons were Woody and Buzz, but they’ve since been replaced by the Blues Clues characters. He loves Blues, Tickety Tock, Steve and Joe, but his favorite is Mailbox. So much so, that when we go on afternoon walks, he has a tendency to open and close every single mailbox on the way. Jayden also loves all things art. He loves to color, paint and use sidewalk chalk. He’s getting really good with his colors and is always asking what color this is and what color that is. I always ask him to draw things and he would draw lines for me, but recently, he’s started to draw circles too.

Jayden has a ton of favorite expressions. Right now, his favorite is, “Great idea!” He says this all the time, no matter what I’m saying. One of my favorites happened the other day. He was looking for two of his matchbox cars and he couldn’t find them. I reminded him that he went to sleep with them the night before and suggested he look in his room. He came back after a minute without the cars and when I asked what happened, he said “I dunno. I don’t see it”. So I went to the room to help him look and when I moved the crib, there they were. He gasped for air and said “Oh my God!” I had to laugh. One of my not so favorites is the result of him spending too much time with the big boys out in the garage. I had the TV on a cartoon station that I normally don’t put on and the announcer said something like “Spiderman is coming up next.” And Jayden said “Oh S***!”

Jayden loves to correct others. I wonder where he gets this from. I often hear him say things like no, stop it or my personal favorite, “No Maya, no touch. It’s not a toy.” Jayden, like most kids, has issues with sharing sometimes. He’ll snatch something away from Maya and say “Mine”. In an effort to teach him to share, I tell Jayden that the toys belong to both Jayden and Maya and that we share the toys by taking turns. So now he’ll snatch toys and say “My turn.” It’s a work in progress.

There are two things that I know for a fact Jayden does NOT love. One is the potty chair. He still refuses to go on the potty. Every once in a while he’ll agree to sit on the potty, but he won’t go (even though he’s gone successfully in the past). As soon as I strap the diaper on, he takes care of his business and lets me know it’s time to change his diaper.

The second thing is trying new foods. He even hates trying old foods in different ways. It drives me nuts because he won’t try things that I know he’ll love. I’ve started to put things in his plate even though I know he doesn’t eat it in the hopes that eventually he’ll get used to seeing it there and he’ll feel adventurous enough to try it. He won’t eat beans. Every once in a while he’ll chew on a pea though. He’ll eat broccoli once in a blue moon, but not the stems. He’ll eat waffles or pancakes, but if I put blueberries in them, it’s a no-go. No mashed potatoes, tuna fish or any kind of hot cereal. No sweet potatoes and last time I checked, he didn’t want yellow rice, ‘cause it wasn’t white. It’s very hard to vary the menu and keep him interested in food when he doesn’t want to anything but snacks all day. Luckily, snacks at my house consist of fruit, yogurt, granola bars, light popcorn, rice cakes, raisins, and applesauce. But still! At least he is doing fairly well with a spoon and a fork, although since Maya started to self-feed, he’s started to use his fingers more often. Well, at least he’s pretty good with a big boy cup. “Two hands mommy”, he always says.

After months of repeating letters and numbers, one day Jayden started to repeat them all on his own. He’s gotten very good at saying his numbers from 1-9. He knows most of his numbers in Spanish, but not in order. He has attempted the ABC song, but only gets as far as ABC. He knows his shapes and is certain of circle, square, triangle, and star. He’s doing great with his colors. Red, blue, yellow, orange, green, pink, purple, black and white. And he even knows some of them in Spanish. Rojo, verde, azul, and amarillo.

Jayden has always been quick to develop his motor skills. In addition to walking and running, he now jumps and attempts to dance. The other day, we were watching Diego and they were trying to get the viewers to participate by jumping with paws outstretched and shout Rawrrr! Normally Jayden ignores any requests for help from Diego, Dora or any of the Little Einsteins but that day he actually got up with me and did it. He had so much fun doing it too. I could tell he really enjoyed it. Now, I am working on teaching him to hop.

Jayden climbs pretty well. He’s good at his rock wall and has a good handle on the rope ladder. He has almost mastered pedaling. And just recently, I noticed that he can throw a ball overhand. When he falls, he gets up, looks at me (checking my reaction) and brushes himself off. He can take off his shorts, diaper, and socks. But he’s still working on putting them on. He tries really hard to put on his socks and pants, but he usually ends up a toe stuck on the outside of the sock or with both legs in one opening. He can brush his own teeth, but mommy always helps just to be sure.

My favorite time with Jayden is at the end of the night. We are usually alone since Daddy is working. Most days, I let him come to bed with me. We climb into bed and start fooling around, laughing, giggling and carrying on like two little kids. All you can hear is me whispering “Shhh. Maya is sleeping” and Jayden giggling. I’m usually exhausted by the time we crawl into bed so we don’t play for too long. When I’m ready to sleep, I ask him if he wants to pray and he holds my hand while I say the Lord’s Prayer. Amen he says. And then it starts. Amen Daddy. Amen Maya. Amen Grandpa. Amen Grandma. Amen Titi. Amen Chooch. And Amen to anyone else he can think of until I say, Alright Jayden. It’s nite-nite time. Go to sleep. I love my little boy. God bless you.