Dear Leyton,
This is the first time I feel like a birthday has been a STRONG onset of such a big change within you. Granted, a lot of that has to do with your little brother’s arrival and starting Mother’s Day Out all within two weeks of your birthday as well but it has been a WHIRLWIND month.
Probably about 2-3 weeks before Finn arrived you started acting differently. It’s like you could tell he was coming soon. You acted out a little more, started testing the boundaries and in general started to assert your independence.
You have started to really show preference to your daddy right now which breaks my heart but I also LOVE to see your love for him and vice versa. Several girlfriends have told me that this is actually a good thing since I’m recovering and having so many demands from baby. I am trying SO hard to make you feel special and have done everything I can to soak up our time together one-on-one.
One of daddy’s favorite things ever is when you hear him pulling in the garage from work and you run to the door to greet him excitedly chattering the whole way! It’s so cute! Your daddy thought that stuff only really happened in movies but LOVES that you do it with him.
The day before “Baby Finn” (as you always call him) was born, we had one more special mommy and son play date together with Cooper and his mommy at Chick-Away (as you call Chick-Fil-A). My heart could just burst because I’m SO proud of you and how you’ve taken everything new that’s been thrown at you. You have been SO sweet and helpful with your brother and your teacher told me at your first day of MDO that you had an “exceptional first day” and did so well.
Some of my favorite things to do with you are going for long walks, feeding the fishies in the creek, and I adore our bedtime prayers (always praying for James, Ellie and Will at your request) and cuddle time, and of course I love to dance with you and listen to your favorite songs. Some of your favorites this year included:
All Time Low by Jon Bellion
Up Down featuring Florida Georgia Line
Lighting and the Thunder by Imagine Dragons (which is by far your current fave)
An Elmo episode with all the most common kids’ nursery rhymes…your favorite seems to be “The Wheels on the Bus”
This year you had your first carousel ride and were scared to death clinging to me but now you light up when you see a carousel and want to go ride it. One thing your dad and I notice a lot is your little idiosyncrasies. You make an “Eric face” when you are focused on things. You have to turn on your sound machine before bed…we are not allowed to do it. You have to have 2 corners handed to you from your kits before bed. You are very determined of course at the age of three that things must be done your way and in your manners.
This year you’ve worked on learning to jump, you love bubbles, making “game face” with daddy and saying “like a boss”, playing “where’s Leyton?” while hiding under the Kit, and you also like to help mommy bake and play with your own bowl, scoops and spoons. Some of your daddy and I’s favorite times with you include just being out on our back patio grilling out and snacking with music on just watching you play in your water table, hit the golf ball, playing with “jump hopper’s” aka grass hoppers, chasing lizards and running around with bubbles, trucks or your little lawn mower.
We also love to go to the pool with you and you insist on bringing “Big Joe” the huge water frog each time. This year you fell in love with candy and your favorites are chocolate, “yummy bears” (gummy bears) or fruit snacks.
You have given pretty much everyone in the family their own name now so we love hearing you call them Grandma DeDe, Big Curt, Grand Mackey, Mama Mackey, Aunt Angel, and then everyone else you pretty much call by name. You love going to Aunt Holly and Uncle Andrew’s house and playing with their “kitty’s” and have a love hate relationship with their dogs. You also love walking with them to go see Poncho, the horse in their neighborhood.
This year included potty training, your first BIG snow which you weren’t too fond of, talking about “Chrissy lights” and you fell in love with the “fox” that was out at a neighbors house for Christmas that was actually a reindeer. You wanted to walk outside every day and go kiss Rudolph on the nose. It was SO cute!
You’ve also been quite the little traveler this year between our Colorado trip, two beach trips with mommy and friends, and going to Tampa to visit Big Curt & Grandma DeDe. We love you with all our heart, baby buddy and can’t wait to see what the next year holds!
2 year old Letter // 1 year old Letter
