To Judson on Your 3rd Birthday

Our big 3 year old on the way to church with his new chore money jar

 Dear Judson,

Happy 3rd Birthday!  It is so hard sometimes seeing you grow up since you are my baby, but it is so fun as well and I am extremely proud of the little boy you have become!  You are sweet and loving, funny, full of energy, friendly and outgoing, and such a joy to be around.  You have a really good memory, a great sense of direction, and a tender heart that shines through under all that rough, tough boy exterior. You absolutely adore your sisters, especially Avery, and love it when they play with you. You love toys and play so well, but your favorites are probably your cars, blocks, balls, swords, dinosaurs, superhero stuff and animals.  You also love to read books, especially ones about superheroes. You like to watch PBS and Disney shows on the iPad as well as videos on YouTube like Sidewalk Cops and things with superheroes. 
This year you started a new preschool (Southlake Christian Preschool), became potty trained, moved from a crib to a big boy bed, stopped using a pacifier, no longer use a booster seat at the table, learned how to spell your name and recognize a few letters, learned your shapes, began coloring purposefully, began playing pretend really well, began to count objects and can count from 1-10, learned to jump on a trampoline, can ride your big wheel by yourself, and started going to Bible class upstairs.  You also started saying prayers this year and they are so sweet and such a window into your precious heart.  They started out as a memorized prayer that you picked up at school:  "Thank you for God to pray in Jesus name, Amen." But now your prayers consist of very specific requests for the sick and for some of the homeless people we have met and helped around the church, along with the occasional specific prayer of thanksgiving.  Daddy and I truly feel that with your God-given abilities and traits you will do wonderful things for His kingdom one day.
Right now with it being summer you go to bed around 9:00, get up around 7:00, and nap about 3 or 4 days a week for about 1.5 hrs.  You love to eat "pampakes" and turkey sausage for breakfast with an occasional smoothie, cinnamon roll, or muffin mixed in there.  Speaking of smoothies, this past year you became a smoothie-holic!  Smoothie King is right on our way home from preschool and almost every time we drive by you ask for a "smoovie".  In fact, for awhile I even used smoothies as a bribe to try to get you to take a nap or at least lie still on your nap mat at school.  That was definitely not your strong point at school, but your teachers sure did love your outgoing, funny, loving personality.  Your other favorite foods include cheese pizza, chicken nuggets, pork chops and pork tenderloin, steak and chicken, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese, fruit snacks, applesauce, yogurt, fresh berries, and vanilla shakes from Braums (actually any ice cream!).  You also had some favorite songs this year which included "Beat It," "Gangnam Style," and "What Does the Fox Say".  People would always crack up at you singing these songs and dancing to them.  At your 3 year check up you were in the 90th percentile for height and weight, which is nothing new.  You always have been and continue to be a big boy for your age!  Everyone always says you look more like you're 4 instead of 3 and that you seem to have grown every time they see you.  You say the funniest and sweetest things that just melt my heart.  One day you told me that you were going to marry me and then later said that you were going to marry Avery because you couldn't "handle anybody else." Ha! You also began telling me regularly this year, "I wuv you Mommy."
You complete our family and make life so much more interesting and fun, Judson.  You are such a precious boy, inside and out, and we love you tremendously! Happy Birthday big 3 year old!