Wells: A 3.5-Year Snapshot

Our big boy is THREE AND A HALF YEARS OLD! And acts every bit of that and more ;) As always, I wanted to document all about this age and what Wells is up to these days.

The Stats: Wells is still big for his age. I measured him the other day at 40 inches tall. I don't know his exact weight, but the last time we went to the doctor, he had hit the 40lb mark. So it is probably right around there. He is solid! :) He is wearing 3T and 4T
shirts, and the same with pants. Some 3T clothes are getting short/snug, but some are still okay. I am officially buying everything in the 4T size, though. He is in a size 10/10.5 shoe.

Talking: So. Much. Talking. If he's awake, he's talking. And sometimes, even in his sleep! (#seriously) His vocabulary is ridiculously large. Even though he can talk with the best of them, he is still only 3 and therefore does still mispronounce some words:
- "Food-gerator" (refrigerator)...which really makes sense if you think about it!
- "Crack stick" is what he calls chapstick. You know, because it keeps your lips from getting cracked.
- "Kee-Buzz" which is "because." He's been doing this a while, and sometimes he does say it correctly. But it just cracks me up.

- He still says "resternot" instead of restaurant.

Favorites:

Toys/Activities: Still all about the trains. He has gotten Grayer addicted, too. These boys can spend ALL DAY at their train table. They both love being outside, too, and playing on their playground they got for Christmas.

TV Shows: Thomas and Friends, Daniel Tiger, and Bubble Guppies. He and Grayer did have a major Blue's Clues obsession for a while after we got some old DVDs from the library.

Color: He is very vocal about his favorite color being red.

Food: I don't think pizza will ever not be his favorite food! But he also still loves fruit (especially berries of any kind), carrot sticks with ranch dressing, grilled cheese sandwiches, and my Granny's creamed corn, which he literally shovels into his mouth. 

Songs: He LOVES the song "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons. And over the Christmas season, there was a house in a nearby neighborhood that had lights synced to a radio station. Two of the songs they would play on repeat were "Christmas Vacation" and a holiday version of "I'm Sexy and I Know It" (don't worry, it literally had nothing to do with the original lyrics - just the same tune). He and Grayer still sing both of those songs around the house. It always makes us laugh.
Books: He still loves his train books. He especially likes a new giant book of Thomas stories that Grayer got for Christmas.

School: Wells is still doing PreK-3 two mornings a week. He is learning a lot and seems to be enjoying it. His teacher told me a few months ago that Wells is quite the talker (like we didn't know that, Mrs. Leanna! Ha!). His school's Christmas program last month was so cute! And he still sometimes sings "Thank you God for Baby Jesus!.." around the house. 

Brotherhood: Wells really is a good big brother to Grayer most of the time. But goodness, can they fight like cats and dogs at times! Mostly over who has which train and whose train is in the way on the tracks. Always train-related! :) They are best friends but also worst enemies at times! Wells is really excited about being a big brother to the new baby in a few months, too. He always asks about the baby and if it's time for him to get here yet. Thanks to my mom, he calls the baby "Bad Bad Leroy Brown." We may have hard time getting him to call him by his real name once he's here! 

Pajamas: This boy LOVES wearing pajamas. He would stay in them all day if he could (and if we are home all day, that's what he does). At nap time, he changes back into his pajamas from his regular clothes. He is a man of comfort. :) He has pajama day coming up at school this week, and it is basically going to be the best day of his life. He cannot wait!

The Quirks: Wells is definitely our cautious child. He takes a little bit of time to warm up to doing new things. He is our little scaredy-cat, too, and gets spooked very easily. Wells is VERY particular about certain things. Here is a classic Wells quirk example: Leading up to his school Christmas program, he would occasionally sing one of the songs they were learning ("Thank You God for Baby Jesus"). In the song, there are different barnyard animals that "sing" with their animal noises. I didn't totally grasp the whole thing, but he kept telling me in little snippets that he didn't like the cow or the donkey. But he told me that he did like the sheep. Well, fast forward to the day of the program. We are watching him sing his little heart out and do the motions for the song..right up until it got to the cow part. He would not do the moo-ing verse at all. He stood completely silent and motionless. Once that verse was over, he kept right on singing and doing the motions...until the donkey part. Same thing. I was dying. It was so funny and SO Wells. The boy is particular about certain things, and I know he gets that, along with his cautiousness and scaredy-ness from me. Bless him. :)

Sleeping: He still takes a good nap most days. Some days he is not tired and doesn't take a nap, but those are very few at this point. We try to get him into bed by 9pm on weeknights. He is our child that likes to sleep in. It is very rare for him to wake up before Grayer, who is our early riser. He occasionally will yell out in the middle of the night for one of us to come to his room. We go in there and calm him down (and maybe lay down with him until he falls back asleep), and if he is really scared or had a bad dream, we'll let him come to our bed. But we really try to keep that to a minimum.

The Smarts: This kid is so stinkin' smart. He can identify every letter (uppercase. we are going to start working on lowercase) and can write most of them. He can spell and write his name. He is always asking what letter of the alphabet a word starts with. He is so curious - always asking a question about something. He is nosy, too! If I am talking to Eric, and Wells didn't hear what I said, he asks what I said. Or if Grayer is getting in trouble, Wells has to know what for. I have told him "none of your business" so many times that he now says it, too - well, actually he says "It's ya business!!!"

Three-nager: Wells is definitely a three-nager, as they're called these days. :) He has all the attitude of a teenage girl some days. We are trying to nip the whining, complaining, and rage in the bud, but man is parenting a preschooler hard! He does have a sweet little heart, but he is still a three year old boy. And that can be rough! The sweetest thing, though, is that after he's gotten in trouble about something, every now and then he'll come to me a while later after it's all been over and say, "I'm sorry I (fill in the blank)." And that just melts my heart!

Devotions: We do devotions about once a week. Since Eric is a teacher, it's a whole production with a story, a video, a craft/hands-on learning activity, and song. Grayer is in bed when this is going on (because he is still a little distracting and would definitely not sit still for it all) but he will join us soon once he is just a little older. So for now, this is a sweet time for me, Eric, and Wells. Wells does really great listening and retaining the information. We use RightNow Media (which we are a member of through our church) for the videos and songs. It brings tears to our eyes to listen to him sing and do the motions for the songs. Wells is a HUGE fan of this one song and always asks us to play it - the chorus is about being a super big, super strong, super wonderful God! And he LOVES singing along. :)

This boy has been such a blessing to us, and we love him to pieces. He makes every day louder, funnier, and sweeter. I can't believe his next "snapshot" will be of a FOUR YEAR OLD!