Happy Birthday, Merek!

Three years old today!

Happy Birthday sweet little boy!

You are my baby, but always tell me you are not a baby. You love to play football and tag with your brothers and dad. Hide-n-seek is your current favorite game. You can count to 20 and sing your ABC song. You prefer Cheerios for breakfast, but will eat oatmeal and pancakes, too. You always have to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. And you rarely eat what we are having for dinner.

You have really started into imaginative play by yourself. You'll play with your Little People or whatever action figure is around, carrying on a conversation and acting out scenes. You still love to watch Dinosaur Train and Word World. I love when you act like you are punching a ticket with your toe like Mr. Conductor does.

You go with mom every morning to take Miranda to school. She has to give you a kiss goodbye. You still love to see the school buses. Every morning we walk the big kids to the bus stop and you say hello to Ms. Penny, the bus driver. And you blow her a kiss before they go on their way. She catches it and says you've made her day.

You love to wear your red cowboy boots. And your camo rain boots. And your black sneakers. You can kind of help get yourself dressed and are really good at getting socks when we have to go somewhere, or getting your pajamas at bedtime.

You still want mom to tuck you in every night. We sing 5 songs together (Twinkle Little Star, You are My Sunshine, I am like a Star, I am a Child of God, and Nephi's courage), then say your prayer. You have to have your red "bah-lank" (blanket) on you (it's actually Curtis's but you have claimed it).

Each morning you wake up early and come crawl in bed with mom and dad. Sometimes you go back to sleep, but first you always ask for Cheerios. Even if a sleepy mom says, "in just a bit", you will lie still beside me waiting. Right beside me. Face squished up against mine.

You love seeing your friends and ask about them. I go to Andrew's house? I go to Matthew's house? And you are really patient if something cannot be done TODAY. You will say, "another day?"

You love your sisters and brothers and want to do all that they do. You love to swing at the park. You are a whiz on your Strider bike. You love to dig in the dirt in the yard. And spot all the slugs on the sidewalk after it rains. You ask me to go inside and shut the door so you can ring the doorbell and knock. Then I open the door and invite you in. Such a fun game.

For your birthday you have requested: pancakes for breakfast; pizza for dinner; chocolate chip ice cream, and you picked out a cake at the grocery store. We are going to eat lunch at school with Krish because it is FEAST day. What a fun day for you :)

Oh, my little Merek, how I love you!