3 1/2

Kyler is now 3 1/2 years old. He is smart and funny and cute and also knows how to drive me CRAZY! I thought I should document some of his likes and dislikes and accomplishments.

He is still as into pirates as ever. We sword fight often and turn our couches into pirate ships, using the ottoman as a plank.

He loves to play with play-doh and do puzzles. We have two Fisher Price castles and a bunch of knights that he loves to play with. He also loves all of Eric's old He-Man toys. He thinks that he should always be playing some sort of electronic game, whether it is on a phone, computer, DS, Wii or anything else. We have had to give him time limits or he would want to play all day.

He can identify the letters A-R,T,X, and Y. He would probably have the rest done if I wasn't such a slacker. We have been doing a secret letter of the week for quite a while now, but ever since he stopped napping and Kadin started napping only once a day, I just can't get as much done. I probably could, but I just can't get myself motivated. He can identify the numbers 1-5. He can write the letter K and I've been meaning to teach him the rest of his name, but again with the motivation thing. I will work on that though. He can also identify different parts of books (front, back, spine, author, title, text, pictures). This is something I learned when I taught preschool, otherwise I would have never thought to teach him that stuff. He has memorized six Articles of Faith and is currently working on the seventh. When the Primary presidency sent home a letter stating that they wanted the kids to memorize the Articles of Faith I thought it couldn't possibly apply to the Sunbeam class, but his cute Sunbeam friend, Madelyn, did it so we thought we would try with Kyler and he has had no problem. He can count to the upper twenties without help. Once he gets into the high twenties he sometimes starts saying numbers like twenty-sixteen and then ends with 30. He can also say our address and phone number.

Kyler has been taking swimming classes at a rec center near our house. After the first class we thought we were going to have to cancel and get our money back because he was not cooperative. But by the third class he was having so much fun and doing what the teacher asked. He has now started his second session of classes and is still doing well. He has stated taking a "little ninjas" class too. The kid is wild and needs something to get all of his excess energy out. He is stubborn and shy, which makes it hard to get him to participate. We have been to four classes so far and I'm not yet convinced he is ever going to fully participate.

I love my cute guy and am happy he is mine, most of the time :)
He can make me absolutely crazy (he knows how to push my buttons and enjoys doing it), but he can also melt my heart. Sometimes the only thing that keeps me sane is thinking that Heavenly Father sent him to me for a reason. Maybe I'm one of very few that could handle this button-pushing, wild boy.

Kyler is always asking me to hold him or carry him and it usually happens at pretty inconvenient times, but I try to remember that this won't last forever and someday I'm going to be the one wishing he would let me hold him. This stage of his might drive me crazy, but I'm going to miss it (I think). I love my little 3 1/2 year old!