WInter Wonderland for One Day!

It snowed in Austin today!!

Taylor loved every minute of it. I even ran home during my lunch break so that I could partake in a snowball fight with Taylor and Andrew.

Wow, What a Change!

So today was Taylor's third year wellness visit with his pediatrician. To all those mommys in bloggerland with young toddlers, the 3 year visit blew my mind for two reasons. It's completely nothing like the other 2 wellness visits you've been to, and for the first time your toddler will show the social maturity and capability of communicating with the doctor themselves! When your 3 year check-up time comes near please remember this book, Froggy Goes to the Doctor-totally made the visit that much easier because Froggy does everything at the doctor that your child will be asked to do.

Points of interest that the visit included: a vision screening test accompanied with the little plastic eye cover that your child holds over each eye and an eye chart with different shapes to call out, a miniature gown to put on-open at the back, a knee reflex test, a finger prick blood test, 2 shots-for us it was H1N1 and the HepB (fourth and final-yay!), a muscle resistance test-pushing up on the doctor's hands and then down on her hands in different directions, and a extensive developmental test and a questionnaire from us. Taylor passed with flying colors and was so shy and cute with the doctor. Now I just need to find a book about shots for his 4 year wellness visit... 4 total next year! I might just have to take the entire day off for that one:)

A New Friend

Last week, Taylor received a birthday present to Build-A-Bear Workshop. Tonight we were finally able to get over to Lakeline Mall to choose his new friend. Earlier in the day, Taylor said that he wanted to get a green bear, but once we got there and the overwhelmingness of the new situation unfolded, he quickly chose a new "Bunny" friend. He walked down the row of animals once and then walked back and grabbed the bunny. He smiled SO big and was SO excited to be getting a new friend. He really enjoyed watching them build his Bunny-all the stuffing and a bright red heart. If you know Taylor, you know how much he LOVES all his stuffed animal friends. Ask Heather, he travels to her house 3 days a week with a blanket, Pooh Bear, Pete the Pelican, and a dog named Henry from a McDonald's Happy Meal-lol! We need to either drop some old friends or he needs an extra arm to be able to carry them all.

Come On And Ride The Birthday Train!

We had a busy birthday weekend with friends and family. Taylor thoroughly enjoyed every waking (15 continuous hours) moment of it all. Saturday began with a train ride to Burnet on the Austin Steam Train. The train departed at 10am with much anticipation from Taylor about riding on his first real train! After all 11 of us found our seats it wasn't long until everyone was hitting the snack bar in preparation for the 2 hour ride to Burnet. Taylor kept asking, "are we moving yet?" Needless to say, the train doesn't move all the quickly in the beginning. He enjoyed sitting on everyones lap in order to look out the window. He wasn't sure what to think about the outside vestibules (between) the train cars, but humored us while we took pictures and got some fresh air. Luckily for us El Nino did NOT dampen our day, it was beautiful and sunny!Once we got to Burnet we headed to find somewhere to eat lunch. With not a lot of choices, we settled for Tealicious, which happened to be a diamond in the rough. Good sandwiches and plenty of seating! Before the train departed back to Austin we watched the Burnet Gun Fight- a reenactment of the way the west once was... guns, drunks, sheriffs, robbers, and salon girls. The kids all enjoyed being thrown in Jail.

Back on the train, cabin fever started to set in a little and the birthday boy got balloons and a birthday rap song from the sweet train volunteers. There is a train etiquette video below for all of you wondering what NOT to do on a trian... just an ordinary day folks! The best fun!

The party ended with a pizza dinner at a restaurant and some playtime on a playscape with friends. Taylor received some sweet birthday wishes and had a blast opening his presents. I'm sad to see the third year over, we did so much, learned so much, and most importantly, laughed so much (even when we wanted to cry-all of us)!! Here's to the road ahead and many more new experiences.

THREE!

My 3rd year was full of milestones, challenges, and most importantly lots of FUN!

This Year I:

Finally got all of my baby teeth... the back molars were very unpleasant!

I moved from sleeping in a crib to a big-boy bed

I took swimming lessons for the first time

I went to the best beach in Texas-South Padre!

I learned to ride a scooter

I can count from 1-12 in order now

I know some letters by sight like:a,b,c,d,e,f,m,o,t,y (maybe more but we haven't practiced in awhile)

I can balance on one foot

I can hop, skip, and jump

I'm potty trained and I only need a pull-up at bedtime, no longer at naptime

I know how to throw a tantrum...

I whine and cry when I don't get my way

I sit in timeout when I'm bad or don't listen to mommy and daddy

I apologize to mommy and daddy for the bad things I do

I give hugs and "big" squeezes and kisses

I tell mommy and daddy "I love you" without them saying it first

I can undress myself and get ready for a bath

I'm learning to dress myself... socks are such a pain!

I read my first book by memory

I can talk on the phone and run to answer it

I had an ultrasound done on the back of my knee-just fluid, nothing else

I developed Austin Allergies-yuck!

I'm a great procrastinator at bedtime

It's been an amazing year! We love you Taylor! You have brought us so much love, joy, and laughter. Happy 3rd Birthday!!